January 1999

Update

NEWS

Tangent, the short fiction reviews magazine, launched the new TANGENT ONLINE website at http://www.sfsite.com/tangent/index.htm on 15 December 1998. An online issue is being published every two weeks as a supplement to the printed magazine.

As part of the Sandwell Arts Festival the magazine PURPLE PATCH is hosting a Poetry Convention from Friday 25 June to Sunday 27 June 1999 at the Barlow Theatre, Spring Walk, Langley near Birmingham. Representatives from the Small Press poetry world will be gathering and the cost of participating will be just £4 for the whole weekend. For further details please contact Geoff Stevens, Purple Patch, 25 Griffiths Road, West Bromwich B71 2EH, or Paul Mcdonald (e-mail: paul.mcdonald3@virgin.net).

MATRIARCH'S WAY, the journal of female supremacy, has announced a short story and articles competition with a first prize of $150. Entries should consider (but not necessarily be restricted to) the themes of alternative lifestyles, transgressive sexuality and female dominance/supremacy. The entry fee is $3 per entry, and familiarity with the magazine is recommended. For further information and an application form, send SAE/IRCs to Artemis Creations, 3395 Nostrand Ave 2J, Brooklyn, NY 11229-4053, USA (e-mail: artemispub@aol.com).

CLARION WEST is now accepting applications for their next Writers Workshop to be held in Seattle from 20 June to 30 July 1999. Instructors include Nancy Kress, Octavia Butler, James Blaylock, Howard Waldrop, Gordon Van Gelder, and Gwyneth Jones. For application forms and further information, please contact Clarion West, 340 Fifteenth Avenue East, Suite 350, Seattle, WA 98112, USA. The closing date for applications is 1 April 1999.


CHANGES OF ADDRESS

GATHERING DARKNESS has a moved its website to http://www.officextras.com/gdarkness/main.html.


MagazinesReceived

ALTAIR #2, A5, 160pp p/b, Aus$8:95 (2/Aus$17; r.o.w. 2/US$20) from Altair Publishing, P.O. Box 475, Blackwood, South Australia 5051, Australia (e-mail: altair@senet.com.au; http://www.ozemail.com.au/~robsteph/altair.htm). Although based in Australia, this speculative fiction magazine has a specifically international focus with contributors from all over the world. Fiction this time is provided by Loren W. Cooper, Jerry Bryson, Martin Crumpton, Stephen Dedman, Julian Boote, Dilip Agarwal, Kurt van Trojan, Toby Finch, James A. Hartley, Devon Monk, and Brendan Carson, plus articles by Kate Forsyth, Ian Watson, Melisa Michaels, Robert J. Sawyer and Nicola Griffiths.

AUREALIS #22, A5, 130pp p/b, Aus$9:95 (4/Aus$30; r.o.w. air 4/Aus$46; r.o.w. surface 4/Aus$38) from Chimaera Publications, P.O. Box 2164, Mt Waverley, Victoria 3149, Australia (http://www.aurealis.hl.net). Professional magazine of Australian speculative fiction with stories from Stephen Higgins, Sacha Davis, Kaaron Warren, Naomi Hatchman, Anthony Morris, Colin J. Ponting, and John T. Stolarczyk, and including The Australian SF Writers' News.

BANANA WINGS #12, A4, 70pp, available for 'the usual' from Claire Brialey, 26 Northampton Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 7HA (e-mail: banana@tragic.demon.co.uk), or Mark Plummer, 14 Northway Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 6JE. More musings in and around SF fandom from Claire and Mark and their regular columnists, presented as ever with their unique knack for dramatizing the moment. This issue features a storming shopping report by Claire Brialey, Andy Sawyer's response to Speller on Wyndham, and Andy Butler on recent SF films, not to mention loads of letters.

BLANKSPACE December 1998, A4, 12pp, enquire to David Stewart, 43 Eglinton Road, Dublin 4, Ireland (e-mail: dstewart@iol.ie). The newsletter of Science Fiction Ireland, with reviews, news and developments with a particular emphasis on film- and TV-related SF.

BLOOD FROM 'STONES #8, A5, 52pp, free for A5 SAE from Matt Leyshon, Horror Dept, Waterstone's Booksellers, 91 Deansgate, Manchester M3 2BW. Complementing the Deansgate SF department's The Alien Has Landed, Blood From 'Stones brings news, gossip and reviews in the horror field. Though it's not as elegantly produced as its SF sibling, this magazine provides plenty to get your teeth into, including fiction from Tim Lebbon, Paul Pinn and Peter Whitehead, interviews with Ramsey Campbell and James Havoc, and articles on Arthur Machen and Savoy's Lord Horror 'Reverbstorm' series.

BW, A4, 10pp side stapled, available by 'editorial whim' from Claire Brialey, 26 Northampton Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 7HA (e-mail: banana@tragic.demon.co.uk), or Mark Plummer, 14 Northway Road, Croydon, Surrey CR0 6JE. Seasonal (and not-so-seasonal) reflections from Claire and Mark in this offshoot from Banana Wings.

DATA DUMP #34, A5, 4pp, 70p/$2 (USA orders in cash or stamps of $1 or less) from Steve Sneyd, Hilltop Press, 4 Nowell Place, Almondbury, Huddersfield HD5 8PB. Continuing Steve's series of factsheets on genre poetry with a general summary of recent anthologies, articles and news, plus a further update on the influence of genre ideas on opera and rock music which started in #12.

DRAGON'S BREATH #55, A4, 4pp, available for one SAE per issue (12/£2:50; Europe 12/£4; r.o.w. 12/£5:50) from Tony Lee, Pigasus Press, 13 Hazely Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight PO30 3AJ. Capsule reviews of SF/F/H small press and media-related publications from all over the world.

ENIGMATIC TALES #3, A5, 120pp p/b, £3 (4/£10; Europe 4/£12; USA/Canada 4/$20) from M. Sims, 1 Gibbs Field, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 4EY (e-mail: michael@micksims.force9.co.uk; http://www.epress.force9.co.uk). Supernatural ghost and horror stories by new and established authors, plus reprints of rare tales from the past. This issue features fiction by A.F. Kidd, Walter D. Dobell, Peter Tennant, Martyn Prince, Geoffery Warburton, B.M. Croker, Paul Joyce, Nigel Brown, David Cowdall, Paul Finch, David Christopher, Trevor Denyer, Gerald Gaubert, Robert Emmett Murphy Jr, and Chris Fox.

HANDSHAKE #33, A4, 2pp, free for SAE from J.F. Haines, 5 Cross Farm, Station Road, Padgate, Warrington WA2 0QG. Market information and news of SF-poetry-related events, plus poetry from Jacqueline Jones, Ceri Jordan, L.A. Hood, Peter Day, and J. Rogerson.

HARDBOILED #24, A5, 108pp, $7 (6/$35, overseas surface 6/$42) from Gryphon Publications, P.O. Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228-0209, USA. Streetwise detective and mystery fiction of the 'hardboiled' variety gives this quarterly digest its name. Hard-hitting fiction and non-fiction in this issue comes from Andrew Vachss, Stephen Solomita, Bill Crider, Morris Hershman, Jack Dolphin, Stephen M. Hull, P.E. Cook, Peter A. Sellars, Walter Sorrells, William Chapin, Charles West, Adam Pasquella, and Brian Christopher Hamilton.

THE INFORMATION #3, A5, 16pp, £1 from Peter Poole, P.O. Box 521, Hove, East Sussex BN3 6HY (e-mail: dream.power@pipemedia.co.uk). A paranormal/ecology magazine that picks up on the issues and arguments not mentioned (or conveniently forgotten) by governments and corporations. This issue looks at weapons, conflict and mind control, Nazi landings in Britain during WWII, why the hole in the ozone layer really doesn't matter, and what the Millennium Dome really means for Greenwich. There's a thin line between Asking the Big Question and conspiracy-theory paranoia, but the arguments are presented lucidly and intelligently enough to let you make up your own mind.

NETWORK NEWS #13, A5, 24pp, 4/£5 (Europe 4/£6:50; r.o.w. 4/£10) from N. Ayers, Earthly Delights, P.O. Box 2, Lostwithiel, Cornwall PL22 0YY (e-mail: beastus_bodminus@yahoo.com; http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dreamworld/2579/). Squatters, crusties and Dianists in a disjointed tale of insurrection, revolution, and sexual daisy-chains.

NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION #124, A4, 24pp, $3:50 (12/$31; Canada 12/$36; r.o.w. 12/$44) from Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA (http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html). Essays, reviews and topical comment for the SF field from a ten-time Hugo award nominee. In this issue, Paul Witcover dances with Moorcock (and Don Webb gets his mojo working on the Man), James Tiptree Jr writes about herself, Ray Davis and Jonathan Lethem fight the good fight, Damien Broderick looks at Wolfe's Delage, and Gwyneth Jones is enamoured of Innamorati.

NOTES FROM THE DARKSIDE Fall 1998, A4, 4pp, enquire to Silver Salamander Press, 4128 Woodland Park Ave N., Seattle, WA 98103, USA (e-mail: jpelan@cnw.com; http://www.horrornet.com/silver.htm). Promo for new and current releases from Silver Salamander and Darkside Press, plus John Pelan's on-going column about building a core collection of horror books.

PAPERBACK PARADE #50, A5, 108pp, $7 (6/$35, overseas surface 6/$42) from Gryphon Publications, P.O. Box 209, Brooklyn, NY 11228-0209, USA. Aimed at paperback readers and collectors world-wide, Paperback Parade is packed with features, articles, bibliographies and interviews. This issue features articles on the author Charles Willeford, the secret pulps of Walter Mitty, how paperbacks end up being pulped, 'leg art' paperback covers, and Mike Barry's 'Lone Wolf' series, plus interviews with Algis Budrys and 'Best of the West' editor Bill Pronzini, as well as plenty of news, letters and adverts.

PROP #4, A4, 48pp, and #5, A4, 56pp, £3 each (4/£10) from PROP, 31 Central Avenue, Farnworth, Bolton BL4 0AU (e-mail: chris.hart@dial.pipex.com). More than just another poetry magazine, PROP is a well-rounded arts magazine that also features reviews, interviews, opinion and prose in a bold and clean design. As well as verse from over a dozen poets per issue, #4 has short stories by Guy Russell, Simon Robson, and Adrian Slatcher, and interviews with Nina Cassain and David Constantine, while #5 talks to David Harsent and carries fiction by Mark Gallacher and Howard Wright, plus Many Precious's moving diary of being writer-in-residence at Wakefield Hospice.

SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER #178, A5, 24pp, $2:50 (12/$17; Canada 12/$20; r.o.w. air 12/$26; r.o.w. surface 12/$17) from Janet Fox, 519 Ellinwood, Osage City, KS 66523-1329, USA (e-mail: foxscav1@jc.net; http://www.cza.com/scav/index.htm). Monthly newsletter for SF/F/H/mystery writers and artists with an interest in the small press. Market news, letters and reviews from USA, UK and elsewhere, plus fiction by Mark Gifford.

TERROR TALES #4, A5, 112pp p/b, £3 from B.J.M. Press, 95 Compass Crescent, Old Whittington, Chesterfield, S41 9LX. This meaty final issue from the 'Chesterfield Chiller' brings horror fiction of a more traditional style from Joe Rattigan, J. Rogerson, John Travis, Martyn Blake, Paul Bradshaw, Paul Kane, Michael Pendragon, R.J. Krijnen-Kemp, Robert Bee, Emma Hooper, Derek M. Fox, Simon Bestwick, Rob Rowntree, A.J. Pothecary, Michael Kennedy, Lisa Negus & Pat Greasby, Richard Bennett & John B. Ford, John Davis, John Saxton, David Toast, Jason Conway, and Peter Wykes.

TOUCHPAPER #9, A4, 2pp, 6/£2 (non-UK: one IRC per issue) from Tony Lee, Pigasus Press, 13 Hazely Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight PO30 3AJ. Ian Shutter looks to the stars and Patrick Hudson is skeptical about George Lucas's motives for Star Wars, plus polemic, comment and reviews.

THE URBANITE #10, A4, 56pp, $5 (3/$13:50) from Urban Legend Press, P.O. Box 4737, Davenport, Iowa 52808, USA. Surreal, lively and bizarre fiction by W.H. Pugmire, John Pelan, Paul Pinn, Marni Scofidio Griffin, Pamela Briggs, A.L. Anzalone, Anne Miles, Scot Peacock, Hertzan Chimera, and Caitlin R. Kiernan, plus poetry by John Benson & Tina Reigel.

ZEST #5, A5, 56pp, £2 (4/£7) from Ian Redman, 61 Chilton Grove, Yeovil, Somerset BA21 4AW. Science fiction to suit all tastes, from Richard Salsbury's comic 'Digital Technology' to Robert Neilson's deadly serious 'In The Time of Angels'. Other fiction comes from D.F. Lewis, Ash Miller, Richard Reeve, David Sivier, Pamela Stuart, and Paul A. Birkett, with poetry by Steve Sneyd, Nancy Bennett, and J.P.V. Stewart, plus Andy Darlington appraises the new Lost in Space.


Author CollectionsReceived

DEMON by Derek M. Fox, ISBN 1-901530-01-9, 180pp p/b, £6:99 from Tanjen Ltd, 52 Denman Lane, Huncote, Leicester LE9 3BS. Second horror novel from the author of Recluse, in which the sudden appearance of a Lancaster bomber at a pleasant seaside town harks back to the war and a game a group of local boys played on the old airfield in 1954.

THE WINTER DANCE PARTY MURDERS by Greg Herriges, ISBN 1-877655-26-0, A5, 332pp p/b, $13:95 (r.o.w. $15:95) from Wordcraft of Oregon, P.O. Box 3235, La Grande, OR 97850, USA (e-mail: wordcraft@oregontrail.net). One-hit wonder Rudy Keen is talking at last, and what he has to say about the seedy underside of the rock & roll world of the 50s and 60s will shake, rattle and roll the recording industry down to its core, and shock die-hard fans – Buddy Holly survived that plane crash in 1959.

FALLING IDOLS by Brian Hodge, 211pp p/b, $16 (ltd edn h/b (1 of 300 copies) $39, deluxe edn h/b (1 of 50), $69) from Silver Salamander Press, 4128 Woodland Park Ave N., Seattle, WA 98103, USA (e-mail: jpelan@cnw.com; http://www.horrornet.com/silver.htm). A new collection of short stories from the acclaimed author of The Darker Saints and Prototype.

AGRA ASKA by D.F. Lewis, A5, 84pp p/b, £3:99 from Scorpion Press, 18 Nuffield Road, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 9UG. A full-length work from the undisputed master of the short-short, Agra Aska tells the story of John Bello, his dreams, friends, childhood, and innocence challenged and retained, all set against the surreal backdrop characteristic of Des's fiction. To echo Tim Lebbon's introduction, with Des's stories averaging a couple of pages at most, this novella is a landmark event indeed.

AN ACCOUNTING FOR WEESENSTEIN by Steve Sneyd, single-sided A4, free for SAE from Inkpot Press, 20 Radburn Road, Rossington, Doncaster, South Yorkshire DN11 0RE. Inkpot Wordsheet #3 featuring one of Steve's longer poems.

SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE by Steve Sneyd, A5, 16pp, free for SAE from Possum Holler Tarot, 5094 N. County Rd 750 E, Orleans, IN 47452-9649, USA. Collection of short poetry presented in lo-fi photocopy montage format.


CataloguesReceived

COLD TONNAGE BOOKS Dec 98, A5, 36pp, enquire to Cold Tonnage Books, Andy Richards, 22 Kings Lane, Windlesham, Surrey GU20 6JQ (fax: 0870 0548510; e-mail: andy@coldtonnage.demon.co.uk). Extensive selection of SF/F/H signed, hardback and limited editions, and many collectable paperbacks.

MIDIAN MAILER, A5, 24pp, enquire to Midian Books, 69 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Staffs B78 3HZ (e-mail: queries@midian-books.demon.co.uk; http://www.midian-books.demon.co.uk). Update to Midian's core catalogue of mythos fiction, erotica, apocalypse culture, comics, crime and occult titles, together with publishing news, reviews, and an in-depth treatment of Kenneth Grant's Against the Light by Alan Moore.

MYTHOS BOOKS Catalog #4, A5, 124pp, enquire to Mythos Books, 218 Hickory Meadow Lane, Poplar Bluff, MO 63901-2160, USA (e-mail: dwynn@LDD.net; http://www.abebooks.com/home/mythosbooks/). Huge selection of books and curiosities for Lovecraftian scholars and collectors of horror, weird and supernatural fiction.

PUMPKIN BOOKS '98 Catalogue, 1/3 A4, 6pp, enquire to Pumpkin Books, P.O. Box 297, Nottingham NG2 4GW (e-mail: pumpkinbooks@netcentral.co.uk; http://www.netcentral.co.uk/pumpkin/). Limited edition and trade paperback horror from Stephen Jones, Bram Stoker, Dennis Etchison, Ramsey Campbell, and Nancy Kilpatrick, available from your specialist bookstore.

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