Happy Birthday??!!

Yes, welcome one and all (and anyone else) to the FoS Anniversary Pac
k!  It
seems only, ummm...last year, that myself and Royal Assassin
decided that it
was time to start a group.  I had already been through this once befo
re, and
was bound and determined to drag Ken into it too.  So in March `95, w
e spread
the Fistful of Steel Infopack, announcing to the world our intentions

We've come a long way since then, even if some of our members had to
be pulled
kicking and screaming.  FoS is still dedicated to promoting the origi
nal ideas
of newcomers to the scene, and once in a great while picking up a vet
eran or
two to help out.  We have not compromised our desire to have fun, and
we still
do good work, usually for free (or in trade for kiddie porn in Rb
x's case).

Still Independent

I forget how many times I've been approached on IRC by someone wantin
g to merge
with FoS, which translates to "merge FoS into so-and-so", losing our
name and
identity.  There has never been a policy against dual-grouping in FoS
, so if a
member wants to remain with us and still join another group, that's f
ine.  And
if they choose to cut their ties with us and move on when a bigger gr
oup comes
calling, no hard feelings.  The every-other-month release schedule ke
eps things
simple for those wanting to do two things at once, and will remain in
place
until we grow enough to handle monthly releases.

New News

That's the old stuff you've read before.  Now onto new business.  As
is to be
expected at times, we say goodbye to a few friends.  Fractal
actually left a
couple months back, and is doing quite well.  A few inactive members
(mostly
Canadians?) were dropped.  Sadly, long-time ANSi doodler Morbid T
hought told
me his intentions of leaving the scene, so we bid him farewell and go
od luck.
Lastly, The Shadow Caster and Cynic (who for whatever
reason wasn't on the
roster) leave us after coming over from Fidelis for a short stay befo
re also
dropping out of the scene.

On the hand, we have some new members (and a couple old faces) aboard
this
month.  Jazzman comes to us from Rigor, bringing with him his
toony styles.
Clark joins the ANSi Division from our southwestern stomping
grounds in sunny
Arizona, and our European courier Mailman is now also drawing
that funky old-
school ASCii after showing off other people's work for months.  Our f
inal new
addition this month is none other than former SabrE ANSi Coordinator
Phyn,
who returns after faking his own death a year ago...welcome back!

In site news, we have a new Eastern USHQ, Alien Nation, and a
Swedish HQ,
Atlantis.  After scrapping the SteelNET concept once and for
all, Sector
Slayer has instead put up a Fistful of Steel Web site.  For F
oS packs, VGA
artwork and Bill's "Ambient Music" selections, feel free to visit us
at
http://www.goodnet.com/~sslayer; currently, Netscape 2.0 is r
equired to fully
experience it, although poor saps like me with text accounts should b
e able
to use Lynx...ack. ;)

Arpeggio is rumored to be down for good.  No alternate FTP si
te at this time.

BTW, we are NOT accepting applications for U.S. distro sites.  Headqu
arters
will be chosen at the senior staff's discretion.  Prospective sysops
can
e-mail me or another senior and invite us to check out their board, b
ut we
are picky sons of bitches.

Closing Comments

I would personally like to thank a number of people for their support
of the
group over the past year: ts (and everyone in Teklordz
), Nero, Seize, Proze,
Sabotage, Assaylant, Griffin, Boyd at
Home Field Advantage (for a hell of a
lot of comics that I never used, and a few that Elusive and
Royal did), all
of our couriers, sysops, our excellent senior staff and of course all
the
members, past and present.

Not to be overlooked are the guest artists who contributed to this li
ttle
birthday surprise.  Not everyone who volunteered artwork met the dead
line,
but thanks to those that remembered and those that came through at th
e last
second.  I've decided to throw in all the guest art from the past yea
r, as
well as new material.  (See the roster for a list of guests who appea
red this
month.)

Hope you like the pack, and feel free to send me your comments and re
quests.
Now, I believe Sector Slayer has written a little something,
so that's it
from me...long-winded bastard, ain't I? ;)

O-Tron
FoS President/Artist
xrist@primenet.com

Not too much to say this time around. I've about given up on Steelnet

as the BBS scene for art is just too slow. FoS should be starting up
a
mailing list so if you want to get on it send one of us mail or chat
with
us in #FoS. I managed 2 pics this time around (maybe 3 if I got reall
y
motivated after writing this :). With a new baby, new job, etc. lucky
I
got that much.  Spoonman has cranked out about 4 logos...if anyone wh
o
does VGA is interested in joining send me mail and a sample or two.
We
good really use a good freehand artist. Next pack should bring some
interesting stuff from me with the release of a new version of the
raytracer that I use for my pics I'll have lots of new effects to tak
e
advantage of.  My BBS really needs a good ansi as I've never gotten o
ne
from anybody in a few years of doing this art group thing :) *hint*
Cheers to the whole FoS crew for lasting a year...I think we've
consistently put out good art and that's more than most groups can sa
y.

Sector Slayer
sslayer@goodnet.com
S_Slayer on IRC
sysop: Sinister Funkhouse

For further information

on FoS, send e-mail to

xrist@primenet.com or

send SASE to:

Ryan M.

1301 67th Ave. N. #302

Brooklyn Center, MN 5
5430

World Wide Web: http://www.goodnet.com/~sslayer

World Headquarters:  612.522.6213 nup: minotaur

Internet Relay Chat: #fos
, #ansi, #art, or #612

see included file FOS-xxxx.BBS for sites>