Small Press Review and
Independent Newsletter
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the International Small Press Review and Independent Newsletter |
That's a good plug for I.F. although I must smile at the comment about the title "Indigenous". I've received a few emails asking if I only accept U.S. writers. Yet, indigenous also means: * native * congenital * instinctive * inborn * inherent * original * primitive * aboriginal * and it's those that apply to the type of fiction I look for.
- Sherry Decker, email
The quantity of publications you are covering is getting a bit overwhelming. By DB#100 you may reach dictionary size. I like your "Miser of the Month" feature and encourage you to continue it.
- Bruce Boston, email
Thanks for mentioning BEST OF PALACE CORBIE in the latest Dragon's Breath. I appreciate it very much, and I enjoyed reading the other reviews, too.
- Wayne Edwards, email
BATMAN: Fortunate Son - £9.99/$14.95
Titan Books, 144 Southwark St, London SE1 OUP
Mail order: 01858 433169 email
New g/n by Gerard Jones & Gene Ha. Retro style tale has guitar & gun, dissent in Batcave + asks if rock'n'roll is Devil's music & can Arkham inmates help w' caped crusader's youth prob case?
THE BBR CATALOGUE - free
PO Box 625, Sheffield S1 3GY website
Update list of new mags & bks now avail from Chris Reed's keen UK distro offers pick of world's sml/indie press material. Novels, anthols, colls, art-bks, etc. From: Bruce Boston 2 John Shirley, Albedo 1 - The Urbanite. Lotsa stuff here 2 interest SF/F/H fan. U can also get NSFA catalog, top UK titles: Crimewave, Kimota, Unhinged + stuff by Tim Lebbon, Steve Savile, Neal Asher, Peter Crowther, Steve Sneyd et al. If U still need more choice then try info in BBR DIRECTORY - 50p/$1.20 (free by email!) MONSTER
THE CERULEAN ANTHOLOGY - $12.95
Cerulean Press, 9651 Estacia Ct, Cucamonga, CA 91730, USA
Bumper crop grab bag p/b of "sci-fi/outer space/fantasy poetry & prose poems" ed by Blair H Allen. Maj booster 4 genre verses, incl Dave Calder, Todd Mecklem, Denise Dumars, Steve Sneyd, Albert Russo, Elizabeth Bartlett, Robert Frazier, Andrew Joron, Lee Ballentine, Richard Cloke, Mark Rich, Bruce Boston, more. Words R grt but print qual sadly rough & faded in spots. BOSS
CHICKEN RUN: Hatching the Movie by Brian Sibley - £20
Boxtree, Macmillan Publishers, 25 Eccleston Pl, London SW1W website
Making-of bk abt Nick Park's animated film venture has 4word by Mel Gibson (voice: Rocky), lotsa hi-gloss pgs of stills, prod art & sketch, storybds, set pix, behind scenes, design tech, etc. It's y' basic henhouse run by mean farmers as Nazi PoW camp plot. Expands on Wallace & Gromit, looks like gd fun 4 kids all ages! Superb pres stuff in slick 200pp h/b, so excel souvenir value ok.
CLASSIC TELEVISION - £2.20 [Eagle Eye Publications]
PO Box 13325, London W5 4GE website
Smart prod mag focus on Brit TV, cinema & radio, ed by Martyn Jackson. #14 (May/Jun ish) exams Randall & Hopkirk remake + Derek (Yes, Minister) Fowlds, Helen (Bad Girls) Fraser both i/vd, Blackadder retro, trivia lists, review section. 48xA4 + colr cover. Makes change 2 find TV mag not swamped with episode guides!
THE COEN BROTHERS by Ronald Bergan - £18
Orion Media, Orion Publishing, Orion Ho,
5 Upper St Martin's La, London WC2H 9EA
Full on biog of genius filmmakers Joel & Ethan, this guide bk on journey from early days of Sam Raimi crew 2 Blood Simple noir, Miller's Crossing style fest & much feted Fargo thru 2 4thcom'g O Brother, Where Art Thou? Smart h/b has 16 pgs b&w pix.
COLD PRINT - £1.75
2 Salmon Cottages, Tideford Rd, Landrake, Cornwall PL12 5DR website
Neat but cheap prod genre mag in old Mkultra style (+ short fic), ed by John Ratcliffe. Early '00 (unNo'd) ish boasts tales by Rhys Hughes, Don Webb (also i/v'd) + Roberts Woolley & Joyce. Incl: articles on film 'story', cult music, Jeff Noon, select media rev'ws. Grt 2 C art of honest fnz alive, well here. CP is fine read indeed.
CREATING A TWIST IN THE TALE by Adèle Ramet - £9.99
How To Books, 3 Newtec Pl, Magdalen Rd, Oxford OX4 1RE
tel: 01752 202301 website
2nd edtn of this how to bk abt tricks of twisty end fic guides new writers thru mag market maze, prompts characters, has advice on action & dialog, exams 'what if' factor, flashbacks, rewrites & target readers, cases/checklists/tasks, here's plenty of pointers 2 fix unfin work & maybe sort out scribes' big probs.
Orders: Plymbridge Distributors, Estover Rd, Plymouth PL6 7PZ
CRIMEWAVE 3: Burning Down The House - £5.99
[TTA Press] 5 Martins La, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB website
Andy Cox's "crime & mystery" stories mag offers thrills, chills & few shots in dark dir, 'n superbly does 4 cri-fi pretty much what orig TTA mag did 4 SF/F/H fic. ie: ups ante, flies in face of odds 2 show Lit world how it should B. Style is only part of recipe tho as CW tales abuzz wi' cool, savage wit of Chaz Brenchley, James Lovegrove, Antony Mann, Tom Piccirilli, Peter Crowther, Garrett Russell, Ceri Jordan, Martin Simpson + others. Essential so buy 1 or they'll send boys round 2 put nag's head in ya bed. ROCKS
DATA DUMP - 70p/$2 [S Sneyd]
Hilltop Press, 4 Nowell Pl, Huddersfield, W Yorks HD5 8PB
#46 + 49 of Steve's handwrit genre poet info NL here in the Kat's klaws. Usual bulletin stuff incl misc fix past errors, notes nonfic topical refs + also SF music & opera seems 2 B regulo spot now.
DOWN TO SLEEP by Greg F. Gifune - $10 (o/s $12)
[S DeLuca] PO Box 8214, Warwick, RI 02888, USA website
Chapbk, 10 "tales of terror," pub'd by Goddess of the Bay, ed by Sandy DeLuca, intro by Trey Barker. GFG comes highly praised & quite deserves every glow complim't. Gifune's dark yet stylish fic makes the Kat grin Cheshire-like. Read this, then U can rest.
THE EARWIG FLESH FACTORY - $3
Eraserhead Press, 16664 E. Trevino Drive, Fountain Hills, AZ 85268, USA website
¼ly genre fic mag ed by Carlton Mellick III. 2nd ish (Spr'00) has tales by James Viscosi, Hertzan Chimera, Simon Logan, Cullen Bunn + others. Grim & weird stuff with some excel bizarre illos.
THE EDGE - $6 [GF Gifune]
PO Box 341, Marion, MA 02738, USA website
'Tales of Suspense' pub'd by Thievin' Kitty, ed by Greg G. #6 has smart pres fic by Ellen Simmons, Steve Savile, Eve Rings, David Whitman, Michael Laimo, Denise Dumars & others. Poetry from Carol MacAllister. Ish 7 incl stories courtesy Shane Ryan Staley, Christopher Stires, Deborah Hunt, Pam Chillemi-Yeager, Carol Weekes, John Everson & others + verse by John Grey. Each ish packed with excel prose that chills, sates, winds, appeals. BOSS
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TV SCIENCE FICTION - £18.99
Boxtree (see above)
New updated ed'tn of Roger Fulton's excel p/b guide 2 sml scr'n genre series, co-pub'd by TV Times. Handy 1-vol info source abt fave sci-fi shows, incl episode gen. Angel, B5, Bugs, Dark Skies, Farscape, Joe 90, Lexx, Millennium, Prey, RoboCop, Sliders, Tek War, UFO & grt many more thru A-Z format + 1-off dramas like: Artemis 81, Into Infinity, 1984, Threads, The Voices, etc. Perfect gift 4 fans of - Blakes 7, Doomwatch, Lois & Clark, Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, & The X-Files. Incl all Buffy, Dr Who & Star Treks. Big 836pp incl 16 pgs select b/w pix . If U buy only 1 genre non fic media ref bk in yr, be sure this is it! The Kat finds it v useful.
ETERNALLY YOURS by Janet L Hetherington - $9.95
Best Destiny, 50-2845 Cedarwood Dr, Ottawa, Ontario K1V 0G6, Canada
Neat p/b comic of genre spoof + trad romance = heroine Destine & Co on danger dates wi' Mummy, vampire, ninja, ghost. Think: Buffy lite meets Lois Lane & disco demon. Cute art, retro styled.
FANDOM DIRECTORY - $19.95 + $4.50 P&P
Fandata Publications, 7614 Cervantes Court, Springfield, VA 22153, USA website
19th annual p/b ed by Harry A Hopkins boasts huge wodge raw info abt clubs, grps, orgs, cons, sml/indie press, incl whole lotta Trek, shops, all handy index'd. Also art gallery, zip codes - well, FD is mainly US stuff, but still 1 of kind. Worth look 4 easy find contacts, penpals, meets, network'g, websites, email lists & etc.
FANTASTIC LITERATURE - free
35 The Ramparts, Rayleigh, Essex SS6 8PY website
Simon Gosden's regulo mail order sales list, assorted genre bks.
FANZINE FANATIQUE - usual
6 Vine St, Greaves, Lancaster, Lancs LA1 4UF email
Keith Walker's grab bag rev'w pgs (4xA4) run from Awen - Zona Zero with plenty fnz stops - like: Espora, Kame, Plotka & Twink, etc.) along its merry way & quite few titles here R unk 2 the Kat!
Front & Centre used 2B UK/Can fic mag, now just no Can do at all! Allegedly has 2 eds (but no better 1) Mathew + Jason, ignore the Kat's freq ask 4 rev ish, so F&C now mod myth wisp status.
THE FURTHEST HORIZON - $17.95
St Martin's Griffin, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, USA
Genre anthol of "SF adventures to the far future" ed by Gardner Dozois. Has some fine tales by Brian Aldiss, Poul Anderson, Joe Haldeman, Ian McDonald, Michael Moorcock, Robert Silverberg, Jack Vance, Gene Wolfe + 9 others. Culled from vari mags, circa 1950-98. Look into distant times, 2 find wonder, horror, charm. Excel idea 4 bk, made req read 4 all fans by ed's skilled choices.
GESTALTMACHER, GESTALTMACHER, MAKE ME A GESTALT
by Steve Sneyd - £5.99/$12
Four Quarters Press, 7 The Towers, Stevenage SG1 1HE
Poetry coll by brainiac Mr S, no stranger 2 SF themes he, but in this chapbk also steers us thru non-genre water of nature, olde worlde (as if timeslip, tho), clear psyche quiet rest we all hope 4. Verse ranges far, wide, uphill'n'down vale, from quark 2 quaser, high spirits & lo vol muse wispy. Grt pac of work 2 dip in2 here!
GETTING INTO FILMS & TELEVISION - £9.99
How To Books (see above)
6th edtn p/b career guide by Robert Angell has 4word by David Puttnam, basics of film biz from pre-prod 2 shoot & post. TV-ad agency & multimedia gen, docu work incl video, anim/graphics, dvd, opps in TV incl OB & news, train'g courses, BBC tech, ITV, demyst's advice on wide range of poss jobs in varied ind. COOL
GREETINGS FROM EARTH - £14.99
Paper Tiger, London Ho, Great Eastern Wharf, Parkgate Rd, London SW11 4NQ website
"The Art of Bob Eggleton" XL p/b, text by regulo Nigel Suckling. Here U get scenes of vivid lava, deadly dinos, fierce dragons, grt serpents, acid green sea-scapes, watercolor lands, war beasts & castle vaults. Also live starships, dim crater fields, solar pirates, strange aliens, planet-next-door humour & book covers aplenty. Vibrant schemes, fear machines, wonder beings, magical vistas.
HANDSHAKE - SAE/IRC
5 Cross Farm, Station Rd, Padgate, Warrington, Ches WA2 0QG
JF Haines' ongo SF poets' NL, still chugs out update info on sml press scene 4 verse-mongers etc. Ish 39 has poems by Giovanni Malito, Steve Sneyd, Philip Davenport. No.40 has Bruce Boston, AC Evans, Richard Lung. #41 toplines Andy Darlington. ROCKS
HEAVY METAL: F.A.K.K. 2 - £9.99/$14
iBooks, Simon & Schuster UK, Africa Ho, 64-78 Kingsway, London WC2B 6AH website
Novel adapto by Kevin Eastman & Stan Timmons of SF/H movie script, but has this been made yet? Pix of scanty clad superhero Julie Strain mixed w' comic art seem 2 suggest makers hopeful.
HIGH FIDELITY - £7.99
FilmFour Books, Macmillan (see above)
Scr'play from John Cusack, DV DeVincentis, Steve Pink & Scott Rosenberg, based on novel by Nick Hornby. Film prod by Disney arm, Touchstone, dir by Stephen Frears. P/b incl 4 pgs colr pix.
I GAVE AT THE ORIFICE by Mark McLaughlin - $2.50
Eraserhead Press (see above)
Slim but tasty chapbk of 8 weird tales by top US sml/indie pres surrealist offers vile delight of 1-pg quik fix like Formulaic Ways of the Abysmal Elite + full wait-4-it, here comes necrobabylon in Melina Mavrodakis & 5 Something-Or-Others Of The Apocalypse. If U enjoy edgy strange oddball Lit sample this nifty pack of fun.
IMPROVING YOUR SPELLING - £9.99
How To Books (see above)
Marion Field's bk aims 2 boost your word power & confidence' w ans 2 probs & Q? norm dict'nrs & trad writ'g guides tend 2 miss out. ID vowel sound, check caps, plurals, verbs, suf/prefix, -lys, common errors like ('s) & abbrev, pron tips, Roget's intro, dread US v UK spells, jargon, slang. Obv'sly all this wasted on the Kat!
IN CAMERA - unpriced
Kodak Ho, PO Box 66, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP1 1JU
Jul '00 ish of gloz cine trade mag exams Scott's Gladiator shoot, TV mob hit Sopranos, sport, adverts, aerial work, awards + tech.
INNER VISIONS: The Art of Ron Walotsky - £14.99
Paper Tiger (see above)
Mind's eye musings realised in this lavish XL p/b coll of stylish illos. From corp ads 2 posters, genre mag covers, novel jackets, LP covers (1 of bad pts re CDs is loss of format), etc. Walotsky's champ of quirky abstracts, daz'lng symbols, nervy mindscapes, fab detail action. Comments from SF/F celebs set scenes. BOSS
IOTA POETRY QUARTERLY - £2 [D Holliday]
67 Hady Cres, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S41 0EB
Another brimful mag, this 50th ish incl hi-qual verse from Bryn Fortey, Andrew Mayne, Peter Wyton, JM Harvey, Bruno D'Arcy, David HW Grubb, Timothy Cox, AF Harrold, Ruth Parker, Gary Bills, Susan Richardson, Carole Bromley, Andrew Detheridge + many more. Grt 2 C such sml press ach'evmt in Y2K. Get this!
JSA: Justice Be Done - £9.99
Titan Books (see above)
New out'g 4 orig DC super-team, Justice Society of America has postwar heroes like Flash, Wonder Woman, Sentinel, Starman, Wildcat & Black Canary fight zombies of JSA man's funeral etc.
KIMOTA - £2.50 [G Hurry]
52 Cadley Causeway, Preston, Lancs, PR2 3RX website
#12 of steady SF/F/H fic mag incl stories by Paul Finch, Simon Kewin, Joe Rattagan, John Travis, Martin Owton, Stuart Young, Mark Gale, Peter Tennant, more. Dee Delamere's Dream Syphon is the Kat's fave. Article: Bengali SF. Illos from Poppy Alexander, Dave Windett, Cathy Buburuz. 76 x A5, sq bd. 1 of UK's v best!
LETTING GO OF THE EARTH - £6 [M Griffin]
Byddwch Gryf: Be Strong Press, The Cottages, 89 Newport, Barton-upon-Humber, N Lincs DN18 5QF
Spec poetry coll mag incl verse by Steve Sneyd, Paul Pinn, Mark McLaughlin, Dee Rimbaud (who also did many fine illos here) + others. Smart prod prose texts reward 2nd read, neat spreads & format R change from A5 bklets (tho 5 lines on A4 is v wasteful). Plenty of excel 2 gd stuff 4 SF/F Lit fans but price is real shock.
MAKING HISTORY by Paul J McAuley - £9/$19 [P Crowther]
PS Publishing, 98 High Ash Dr, Leeds LS17 8RE
SF chapbk intro by Michael Swanwick exams off-world tension, & sinister politico plot of Earth gov on 1 of Saturn's moons. Not bad as terrorist menace of retro-future cityscape but rest weak.
MASQUE NOIR - $5
PO Box 19, Spit Junction, NSW 2088, Australia
Rod Marsden's mag of 'new wave' Oz avant-garde, #4 incl fic by Geoff Jackson, Don Boyd, Clinton Green, Lyn McConchie, Mark McLaughlin, Barbara A Custer & others. Illos by Valerie Lyons, Roland Chanter, Gak, Jeff Ward. There's 2 much stuff contrib'd by Marsden 4 the Kat's comfort, but on whole it's fair enuf effort & worth support if only 4 vari of themes, poets' corner & source.
MONAS HIEROGLYPHICA - £1.50 [J Spracklen]
58 Seymour Rd, Hadleigh, Benfleet, Essex SS7 2HL
10th ish of genre weird mag incl short tales from Tony Leather, Russell Chambers, verse by Ian Deal, Andy Botterill, nonfic abt Aztec idols, fly-drive hols, Mid Ages, Poe's SF + Joi Brozek i/vd.
MONSTERS IN OUR MIDST - $13.95
Tor Books, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, USA
1st p/b ed'tn of '93 horror anthol, ed by Robert Bloch, it boasts tales by Ramsey Campbell, Jonathan Carroll, Richard Christian Matheson, Ray Bradbury, Charles L Grant, JN Williamson, Chet Williamson, SP Somtow, Steve Rasnic Tem & 8 others. Relevant as ever, this bk's psycho theme compels, scares, gives creeps & gen'rly weirds out norms (even wild Kat). Check again bloke sat next 2 U on bus/train/plane. What's on his mind? MONSTER
MOONSTONE - £2 [T Clare]
S.O.S, The Old Station Yard, Settle, BD 24 9RP
#78 poetry mag ed by Talitha & Robin. Line-up here incl: Geoff Stevens, Dawn Hogarth-Burton, Steve Sneyd, Ronald Parr, Jean Arbuckle, Tom Kretz, Richard Bonfield, John Light, many more.
MYSTERIES OF LOST EMPIRES - £18.99
Channel 4 Books, Macmillan (see above)
TV series tie-in h/b by Marshall John Fisher & David E Fisher, exams build tech of Egypt, Easter Island statues, 13th C siege- engines, Roman baths, Chinese bridges. Tho' wonder all solved now, in theory, these R still minor marvels of ancient ingenuity.
NAMING OF PARTS by Tim Lebbon - £9/$19
PS Publishing (see above)
Novella (intro by Steve Rasnic Tem) tackles familiar horror genre theme of zombies, tries 2 B scary, weird, mix norm & fantasy in dark night, was-it-just-bad-dream day. Succeeds on all counts. If U want nifty read spinoff Romero's undead mythos - here it is!
999: New Stories Of Horror & Suspense - £7.99
NEL, Hodder & Stoughton, 338 Euston Rd, London NW1 3BH
Fat 850pp anthol p/b ed by Al Sarrantonio incl short novel from
William Peter Blatty, novellas by Joe R Lansdale, David Morrell, Joyce Carol Oates + fiction by Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Gene Wolfe, Thomas Ligotti, Kim Newman, Neil Gaiman, Nancy A Collins, Thomas M Disch, Edward Lee, F Paul Wilson, Michael Marshall Smith, Tim Powers, Bentley Little & many more. COOL
1001 REALLY STUPID JOKES - £3.99
Constable & Robinson, 3 The Lanchesters, 162 Fulham Palace Rd, London W6 9ER
No name on this 150+pp p/b coll of gag coll (who'd take blame?) but Mike Phillips admits he did illos. Gift 4 that irksome brat..?
1000 BEST WEB SITES by Bruce Durie - £9.99
How To Books (see above)
Revised 2nd ed'tn of Internet survey, checks out biz, tech, news, edu & ref, family, finance, arts & leisure, science + peculiar/odd web stuff. Skim thru p/b finds DTI, slashdot, macromedia, aids map, jobcenter, scrum, cern, zines, warp core, dilbert, blah blah
OUTLAND - free
c/o Ottakar's, 63 Park St, Walsall, W Mids WS1 1LY
¼ly SF & fantasy bks NL #18 (Spr'00 ish), incl Robin Hobb i/v.
PIXEL JUICE by Jeff Noon - £6.99
Anchor, Transworld, 61-63 Uxbridge Rd, London W5 5SA
Awash w' SFnal remix & invents of manic glee, Noon's 1st coll of 50 short fic pieces covers library range forms in nr unique style. U get genre gossip, death tales, life drugs, urban myth, mutants next door, haiku, game rules, fright masque, cyber blurb, revisit 2 novel milieu, youth crime, song lyrics, comedy, tragedy, paths not taken, secrets shared, new dogs + old tricks, magic wonder!
PSYCHOTROPE - £2.10/£5.50
Flat 6, 10 Ombersley Rd, Worcester, WR3 7ET
Ish 8 of Mark Beech's genre fic mag incl more "tales of mad love, psychological horror & surrealism" by Mark McLaughlin, Helen Kitson, Hugh Cook, Peter Tennant, Matthew Firth, Mark Astley, Rhys Hughes + 1 piece from trio of DF Lewis, Lawrence Dyer & Keith Brooke! This may not B most slick pres mag of today, but it does have unique feel 2 set it apart from DTPd crowd. ROCKS
RARE EARTH - £17
Springer-Verlag, Sweetapple Ho, Catteshall Rd, Godalming, Surrey GU7 3DJ website
Sci study & intro 2 astrobiology by palaeontologist Peter D Ward & astronomer Donald Brownlee exam reasons "why complex life is uncommon in the universe." Habitable 'pockets' in deep space dead zones, planet builds, DNA recipe, regulo extinction events? Vital geothermal + lunar tidal forces aid new theory. Refs, index.
REALITY DUST by Stephen Baxter - £9/$19
PS Publishing (see above)
Likeable space opera yarn from 1 of UK's finest SF names, intro by US giant Greg Bear. Harks back 2 Baxter's early Xeelee tales, as weirdo aliens takeover world & leave it in ruins. In aftermath of Qax quit Earth, here's Clarke-type find nr Jupiter. MONSTER
ROADWORKS - £3/$6 [T Denyer]
7 Mountview, Church Lane West, Aldershot, Hants GU11 3LN website
Bmpr fun bk size #8 (Spr'00) ed'tn Trevor's "tales from the hard road" incl fic by Steve Harris, Geoff Jackson, Rhys Hughes, Paul Pinn, Sean Russell Friend + others. Verse from Giovanni Malito, Peter Wykes. Todd Berkley Peccadillo Jr, Steve Harris both i/vd. Matthew Robinson, Gak among artists. 118pp sq bd p/b. BOSS
SCARY DREAMS - unpriced
5 South Mesnefield Rd, Salford, Manchester M7 3QP website
#7 (Aut'99) of genre movie mag, ed by fans Harry Nadler & Steve Kirkham, 4 Society of Fantastic Films (org runs annual FF fest). Retros of: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, Them, The Thing (51), HK star Anthony Wong Chau-Sang profile, no-budget video auteur Kevin J Lindenmuth i/vd, also tape, dvd, CD rev section.
STIR OF ECHOES by Richard Matheson - £5.99
Boxtree (see above)
Orig spooky US novel (1958/89) basis 4 new Kevin Bacon film.
TERRIBLE WORK - £5/$8
21 Overton Gardens, Mannamead, Plymouth PL3 5BX
Ish 10 of Tim Allen's prose, poetry, art & rev'w mag. 108 A5 pgs incl verse by Nicholas Johnson, Steve Harris, Peter Larkin, Paul Weidenhoff, Annette C Böhm, Roger Phillips + many others. 40+ pgs rev'ws R keen look at recent pub'd chapbks & anthols. Over all TW deserves much wider read'ship than it prob'ly gets. BOSS
THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE - £3.25/$5
TTA Press (see above)
Slick & superb #23 of Andy Cox's champ Lit fic mag boasts fine stories by Graham Joyce, M John Harrison, Brian Howell, Mark Morris, Charles M Saplak, Jessica Reisman. Peter Straub's i/vd, Dennis Potter's profiled & there's comment cols by Allen Ashley, Peter Crowther. Artwk/graphic design here is envy of many but TTA offers more'n just pretty facets. Content qual rides high abv crowds of so-so hobby mags & shows metro mob thing or doz 2! If U R tired of bony old mud-stuck est'd in '60s ¼lys, yet find so few new dyson awd-grabs rly swp clean, this'll put ya rocket up.
UNITED PENNY by Mark Sonnenfeld - unpriced
45-08 Old Millstone Dr, E Windsor, NJ 08520, USA
Further testbed verbiage from Marymark Press, this typical job lot of odd words & Word fonts manages 2 irk the Kat from afar.
Also avail: 2 WRITERS TOGETHER has Sonnenfeld's stuff & 5 poems by far better able verse-monger, Alice Olds-Ellingson.
VECTOR - £2.25
16 Weaver's Way, Camden, London NW1 0XE website
1 of 3 mags pub'd by BSFA & rec'vd by SF club members. This ish ed by Tony Cullen. #204 (Mar/Apr'99) incl rev bks & films of '98, o'view of Peter S Beagle's F fic, retro of Richard C Meredith's Timeliner trilogy, study clas'cal music in Lit SF + lotsa bk rev'ws in smart pres 40xA4 in upmarket 'Crit Wave' gd qual read style.
Mem'ship enq to: Paul Billinger, 1 Long Row Close, Everdon, Daventry, Northants NN11 3BE
WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? - £5.99
Boxtree (see above)
"Ultimate Challenge" p/b cash-in quiz bk mimics TV format incl fast finger 1st Q&A, £100 - £1m puzzles but who ya gonna call?
WINEDARK SEA - Aus$15.95 (o/s $16.95)
PO Box 367, Southgate, Sylvania, NSW 2224, Australia website
Début of p/b mag ed by Adrian Tan, offers smart pres stories & prose by Thomas Wiloch, J Clare, Carlton Mellick III, RG Evans, Cheryl Baker, Tim Jones, Amy H Sturgis, Heather Pagano, John B Rosenman, Francis Kinnings, Richard Hillman, Aidan Baker + others. Douglas Lain's tale The Suburbs of the Citadel of Thought is brilliant! U also get in-depth i/v wi' poet David Brooks, article on Arthurian myths in Star Trek, rev'w of Sophie Masson's bks. Best illos by Duncan Long, Trudi Canavan, DL Sproule. This 1st vol serves up v healthy Lit mix offbeat genre themes. MONSTER
WRITERS' BREW PRESS NEWSLETTER - £5 for 4
WBP, PO Box 241, Oakengates, Shropshire TF2 9XZ website
Jun'00 ish of Amanda Gilles' writ club NL has news, ads, GLs + compo details. Adqte promo 4 vari sml press schemes but dear.
WRITERS' FORUM - £3
W.I, 1st floor, Ashley Business Centre, Briggs Ho, Commercial Rd, Poole, Dorset BH14 0JR website
Jun/Jul'00 ish of glos mag 4 scribe talents has i/vs w' Deborah Moggach, TV sitcom's Galton & Simpson, autobiog ghosts, writg 4 sports, vari craft articles, hot 2 find agent + news, views, hints & tips on style, web advice & iMac notes, compo fic, win thrus 2 inspire, poetry pgs, awards, LoCs, ads, plenty info 4 tyros here.
X-MEN - £5.99
Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster UK (see above)
Nov'lstn by Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith based on Christopher McQyarrie & Ed Solomon's scr'nply of superhero team film, prod by 20th C Fox & adapted from long run'g Marvel comics series. Got all that, phew! Movie not seen by the Kat yet.
ZENE - subs: £12 for 6
TTA Press (see above)
#22 of def guide 2 world's indie pub'd mags & bks incl details of new TTA Lit compo, quik cols by Allen Ashley, Tony Lee, Antony Mann + whole load stuff rev'wd by doz strong Team Zene, usual mass coverage of market updates & GLs, news info, Andy Cox's roundup. Don't think of writ'g genre fic B4 U C this! MONSTER
please note: the hardcopy version of this issue of dragon's breath features an interview with Phyllis Gotlieb by Nancy Bennett
db US poet/author Bruce Boston boasts 5 bks R 4thcom'g: The Complete Accursed Wives (Talisman), Changing Faces: Tales Of Illusion & Identity (Wildside), In The Darkened Hours: 11 Award-Winning Poems Of SF, Fantasy & Horror (Miniature Sun), all out Aut. 2000, also Flesh Bone Blood (Dark Regions), Pavane For A Cyber-Princess (Miniature Sun), both due Spr. 2001
db The ZONE #9 out now! Stories by Neal Asher, Hugh Cook, John Light, David Ratcliffe; prose from Nancy Bennett; poem by Steve Sneyd; i/v's with Pat Cadigan, Joe Haldeman, Simon Ings, Dean Koontz, Alison Sinclair, Howard Waldrop; nonfic - comets & asteroids in SF, Asimov's Nightfall, latest bks, films, vids, dvd, tv rev'd. 68 x A4, card cover art by Gak. Redesigned larger print same price: £3.25 (UK only) chq/PO payable to Tony Lee. Order today from - 13 Hazely Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight PO30 3AJ
db Harry Wilkens' Dockernet poetry 1-sheet folds with #33/34, (Jul/Aug ish). More info: email
db lo-cost inkjet print refills avail from Chester-based Cartridge Care, tel: 10244 682 826 email
db Tracy Martin reports US mag Mindmares folded
db BFI tout new film bks on Dead Man, Pulp Fiction, Salo (120 Days of Sodom), Thelma & Louise - £8.99 ea. Out on 7 Aug
db Zine Kat welcomes news from readers for this section of db
Next… Oct 2000
Why did you choose "Black Rose" as the title of your magazine?
editor, David P Dunning replies:
The name BLACK ROSE could of easily been ROISIN DUBH, the Gaelic for 'Black Rose', but I was never one for speaking or learning my native tongue, shame really, but I just never took to it, and to have called it the latter I felt I would of been hypocritical. Thin Lizzy had an album out years ago, called "Roisin Dubh," with a picture of a black rose on the cover. I was a big Thin Lizzy fan with Phil Lynott and Brian Downey coming from the same Dublin 12 area as myself. Phil Lynott was a hero of mine growing up, I used to see him around town, the same man that had appeared on TOTP. Any man who came from a Dublin working class background, who was coloured and a child of a single mother in Ireland's Catholic society, and still managed to produce some of the best rock'n'roll around takes some doing. It was a sad day when Phil died, a loss to my generation. Black Rose is named in memory of Phil Lynnot, and that his achievements an inspiration for me to produce some of the best fiction around.
SCI-FRIGHT the fantasy fiction magazine is offering new readers a sample copy of issue #6 at the discount price of £3 (normally £4). The 150 page A5 perfect bound anthology is bursting with great stories from established and new writers alike and also includes poetry, features, book and film reviews and amazing artwork. To receive your discount copy send a cheque for £3 payable to Springbeach Press to 11 Vernon Close, Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6AN. Please mention this magazine when replying. Offer limited to available stock.
Hardcopies of DB for distribution to your correspondents and friends are available - please send a large s.a.e. (with sufficient postage).
Get your independent publication listed and reviewed in DB: send a copy
(no e-zines please!) to: Zine Kat, c/o Pigasus Press.
Publishers can get complimentary copies of DB in return, but - please enclose an SAE or IRC with your review materials.
DB is also be available free by email, see below and follow links to subscribe.
All enquires -- contact editor, Tony Lee, at Pigasus Press
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