THE BATTALION
FRIDAY, MAR. 26, 1976
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“Don’t talk about it—write it” is
Anne McCaffrey’s advice to aspiring
writers.
McCaffrey, guest of honor at
Cepheid Variable’s AggieCon VII,
has published 14 books including ten
science fiction. Her best known
works are the “Dragonriders of
Pern” series, which won both the
Hugo and Nebula awards, “The Ship
Who Sang” and “Decision at
Doona.”
In an interview Wednesday,
McCaffrey talked about her career as
a writer and the craft of writing.
“I am usually at the typewriter by
9 or 9:30 every morning, ” McCaffrey
said,” and I’ll stick with it until some
thing dries up or I can’t keep it mov
ing, so I’ll quit about lunch time. If
something is moving well, though, I
can’t quit—I’ll keep on working until
it’s time for dinner.”
When working on rewrites or final
copy, she will frequently spend 10
hours a day at the typewriter.
“I cannot work from outlines—I’m
a storyteller,” McCaffrey said, “I
start from a situation and a basic con
flict between the major characters
orld oceans
an’s dump
Texas A&M University
|dgrapher says the relationship
jveen man and the ocean is sour-
Book shows Nixon
suicidal in last days
and very often the story takes off on
its own.
“Very often I have to rewrite por
tions of the initial story when I find
out where the story’s going in order
to emphasize directions that I hadn’t
known were going to be useful to
me.”
McCaffrey usually has about four
uncompleted works in progress and
will take anywhere from 3 1/2 weeks
to a year to complete a novel.
McCaffrey said that writers’ con
ferences have helped her greatly. “It
takes a lot to sit and listen to 25 pro
fessionals rip your stuff apart. Not
everyone can take it but if you can,
you can learn a lot.”
Observation, McCaffrey believes,
is an author’s most important ability.
Pulling a large notebook out of her
purse, she said, “A writer is never
not working. I keep with me a
notebook in which I jot down
phrases, characteristics, names of
towns and places that might be good
names for heros or planets. I never
stop working; I never know when
something will prove useful.”
The author graduated with honors
from Radcliff with a degree in
Slavonic languages. “We were very
friendly with Russia in 1947,” she
said, “and I thought knowing
Slavonic languages would help me
get a job in the foreign service but
like many college students, my plans
underwent a severe change.”
McCaffrey lives in Ireland be
cause her income as a writer is tax-
exempt. She explains with a laugh
that she pays no American taxes
since “I carefully keep my income
under $25,000 a year.”
McCaffrey will speak at 2 p.m. in
the Rudder Theater on “The Whys
and Wherefores of the Dragon Se
ries.” Tickets that are available in the
box office of the Rudder Tower will
also admit purchasers to other Ag
gieCon events.
Tim Sager
»% pure
led Po-
. $1.29
Itini and
Sauce,
ghettini,
hopped
French
.$1.29
William M. Sackett asserts
cans have become a dumping
bd for man’s garbage and chem-
[waste.
Ian has always used the ocean as
I of a giant garbage can, but “be-
I jj of his small numbers he had
6 influence until about 1900
I in industrial activities began to
liv, Sackett said.
ackett researched some of these
I IS as part of a 1975 National Sei-
le Foundation funded study on
I (circulation of the Gulf and the
psand biological effects of various
n-derived chemical contaminants
11.
Tie principal sources of pollution
I lie Gulf are the rivers that empty
11 it (primarily, the Mississippi),
pore petroleum production oper-
I ins and offshore dumping of in-
\ trial wastes.
lie Gulf, his calculations indi
ll contain critical levels of DDT,
| ich. tcording to experts, is re-
nsible for the sudden disappear-
|eofthe Brown Pelican, a symbol
ie Gulf coast region.
DT is magnified as it passes
ugh the food cjiain from phytop-
;ton, to minnows to large fish
ching a concentration in the
fine birds of 25 parts per million.
dual pollution problem accom-
pes offshore petroleum produc-
Sackett warns.
High molecular weight com-
|nds are the most visible, seen in
form of tar on beaches, floating
water surface and coating and
lig birds and other marine or-
isms,” he said.
bth er compounds also present in
liid petroleum have major, long
(■n sub-lethal effects on ecosys-
|»s
Bn the vicinity of industrial and
Bvage discharges, Sackett ex-
lined heavy' metals may be a prob-
ln. In an 'inland or near shore
" :r, heavy metal contamination
Bally remains where it is dumped,
Icting nearby animal populations.
■ Most of the pollutant-loaded
BofFand industrial waste is carried
ijthe western Gulf of Mexico, and
It is where marine life is in the
9' test danger of being damaged by
In’s activities,” Sackett added.
lAlate summer westward current,
Is near shore currents which gen-
Blly move westward, serves to iso-
ije the western Gulf from the east-
jfrpart, which is continually flushed
|| the main Yucatan current.
■ Tn this way pollution tends to be
Bried to the western Gulf off
Bus, Sackett explains.
\ Determination of the long-term
cts of present levels of heavy
tals and synthetic organic and pe-
Jeum compounds on marine life in
f Gulf of Mexico will require fur-
til - investigation of the characteris-
s of the contaminants and of the
ected portions of the environ-
:nt, Sackett concludes.
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A new book re
portedly paints a picture of former
President Richard M. Nixon drink
ing too much, weeping and threaten
ing suicide during his last days in the
White House.
The former president’s suicide
talk so disturbed his aides, according
to reports on the book, that they re
moved all medication from his
medicine chest.
The book is “The Final Days,” by
Watergate reporters Bob Woodward
and Carl Bernstein of The Washing
ton Post. Time Magazine and the
New York Daily News say it has been
closely guarded prior to its publica
tion next month by Simon and
Schuster and serialization of excerpts
beginning Monday in Newsweek.
According to the report in Time,
as amplified by columnist Liz Smith
of the Daily News, the book relates
that in the days before his resigna
tion Nixon spent much of his time
drinking in a small office in the
Executive Office Building, either
alone or with Press Secretary Ron
Ziegler.
The News says that Nixon’s son-
in-law, David Eisenhower, ex
pressed concern for Nixon’s mental
condition, reporting to an aide that
he had seen the president, intoxi
cated, talking to the portraits of
former presidents.
Time says that as the end neared,
Nixon asked Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger to kneel and pray
with him, saying:
“You are not a very orthodox Jew
and I am not an orthodox Quaker,
but we need to pray.”
The News says that after the
prayer Nixon began crying, scream
ing and beating his fists on the floor.
Even though Ziegler was one of
the former president’s few con
fidantes in the final days, Time says,
the press secretary sometimes be
came the object of Nixon’s temper
and that Nixon was heard on one oc
casion screaming at Ziegler, “Get
out! Get out!”
When Nixon summoned his fam
ily, wife, daughters and sons-in-law,
for a final White House photograph,
says Time, White House photo
grapher Ollie Atkins had to shoot for
some time to get a picture which did
not show tears on any of their faces.
Woodward and Bernstein’s inves
tigative reporting about the
Watergate burglary and cover-up
won a Pulitzer Prize for The Wash
ington Post.
NOW COMES
MILLER TIME
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505 HWY. 2818 - Industrial Park
822-3623
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Bookstore*
Battalion
Classified
845-2.611
Tlve
Tilings
HAIRSHAPING EMPORIUM FOR MEN & v. QMEN
84 6- 7614
331 University
(Upstairs above Kesami)
000;
00
City National Bank hasd,000,000. lV
to loan for new cars.
We plan to loan $1,000,000.00 to purchasers of new cars by June 1,
1976. We know in order to accomplish this we must have a good deal.
City National has “THE BEST DEAL^ in town. And you can actually
compare your payments and interest rates.
Here it is in black and. wliite for
TA MU Graduating Seniors.
42 Months
Rate
Amount
Monthly
Annual
Add-on
of Loan
Payments
Percentage
Rate
3,000.00
84.93
9.99%
*
3,500.00
99.08
9.99%
4,000.00
113.24
9.99%
4,500.00
127.39
9.99%
5,000.00
141.55
9.99%
5,500.00
155.70
9.99%
6,000.00
169.86
9.99%
6,500.00
184.01
9.99%
7,000.00
198.17
9.99%
36 Months
Rate
Amount
Monthly
Annual
Add-on
of Loan
Payments
Percentage
Rate
3,000.00
96.83
10.04%
*
3,500.00
112.97
10.04%
4,000.00
129.11
10.04%
4,500.00
145.25
10.04%
5,000.00
161.39
10.04%
5,500.00
177.53
10.04%
6,000.00
193.67
10.04%
6,500.00
209.81
10.04%
7,000.00
225.94
10.04%
* Annual percentage rates are figured cm a 5.4% add-on rate.
For the best deal in town call:
Roy Simmons
Wallace Dunham Perry Shirley
Bill Williams
City National Bank
301 Texas Avenue Bryan, Texas 77801 779-5402