Spring of 2004 was also 10 years since the first issue of the fanzine “Dorado Raganos” — “The Witches of Dorado” came out. Dorado was the name of Vilnius science fiction club, to which all of us, editors of the fanzine (5-6 people, depending on who’s counting) belonged. It was in the Dorado club that we met and decided to start a fanzine for publishing Lithuanian science fiction stories, poems and art. We published quite a few foreign authors as well. 10 years later, all three of the “founding mothers” — Audrone, Diana, and I — lived abroad, but we kept the fanzine going nonetheless. By 2004 we were still publishing 1-2 issues a year.
We commemorated our 10th anniversary at Lituanicon with speeches, cake and champagne. A troupe of high school dancers dressed as witches performed a dance, and then we cut a cake and shared it with the audience.
DR-1 The publishers of Dorado Raganos at the 10th anniversary party. Audronė (front left) speaks. To the right of her are myself, Lina and Danutė.DR-5 The publishers of the Dorado Raganos fanzine introduce themselves to the audience at the fanzine’s 10th anniversary party. L-R: Lina, Danutė, myself (Elzė), Audronė and Neringa.The publishers of Dorado Raganos fanzine, left to right: Audronė, myself, Danutė, Neringa. Before we let the audience have a piece of that gorgeous cake, we subjected them to our speechifying.DR-4 The black-clad young “witches” with ghostly white painted faces did more than cut our birthday cake. They put a dramatic touch on our presentation. The “magic” circles of lit candles on the floor played a part in our awards ceremony. We gave awards to many people who significantly contributed to our fanzine over the years. After being presented with an award, each “awardee” was whisked away by the girls in black and told to sit in one of the two candlelit circles to the left or to the right of the stage. Thus, all the award winners were divided into two teams. Then each team was told to improvise a 5-minute performance on a given topic. What a way way to thank our faithful supporters!The publishers of Dorado Raganos fanzine, left to right: Danutė (behind me), myself, Audronė and Gediminas, the head of the Vilnius science fiction club “Dorado”Dorado Raganos 10th anniversary evening party at a bar for a smaller circle. The leftmost person is me, to the right of me is Justinas.p0000375 The publishers of “Dorado Raganos” at the post-Lituanicon party at the Dorado club headquarters. Right to left: Lina, myself, Audronė, and Neringa.p372 Some of the ladies and gents of the Dorado science fiction club at the post-Lituanicon party.p374 The guys of Dorado science fiction club (center). Right, under the Tomb Raider poster: Lina, a SF/fantasy author, critic, very witty book reviewer and a judge in the Lituanicon short story contest.
