Argos Index

The final issue

Argos was a short lived (3 issues) magazine that appeared in 1988. It ought to have been successful: it featured some big-name writers – Larry Niven, Keith Laumer, John Brunner, Janet Morris and Mike Resnick (who had a story in every issue). It is always difficult for a new magazine to gain prominence on news-stands and this may have been part of the problem.

The rather amateurish cover for issue 1 probably did the magazine no favours either. Later covers were better and in my view the best was Deborah Skilton’s illustration for Jack Lovejoy’s “The Gatekeeper” that graced the final issue.

Issues 2 & 3 featured a non-fiction column by Keith Laumer and Issue 3 added a multi-author book review column.

Analog 1970s Non-Fiction Index

Non-Fiction sometimes made the cover

Here as promised is the 1970s non-fiction index for Analog.

The articles were a varied bunch, from popular science through speculation to what is now frequently termed woo. I have also included the editorials, which were articles in their own right. Ben Bova introduced a policy of publishing some guest editorials, which are so marked under the authors’ listings.

Also included are the book review columns which appeared in almost every issue.

Analog 1970s Fiction Index

Vincent diFate's cover art for Roger Zelazny's "Home Is The Hangman"

Analog maintained a regular monthy schedule throughout the 1970s (as indeed it had from 1935 and would continue to do so until 1996) so an index for this decade is extremely long. What follows is the fiction index and a list of cover art credits.

Missing List 1 – Isaac Asimov

In Volume Two of his “History of the Science Fiction Magazine”, Michael Ashley stated that the checklists of ten influential writers from the period (April 1936 – March 1946) had to be omitted for reasons of space. One such author would surely have had to be Isaac Asimov. In this period he not only published “Nightfall” but many of his Positronic Robot and Foundation stories first appeared. Anyway, here is the checklist:

The Original BEM

SF and fantasy fans have often heard the phrase “bug-eyed monster” or its acronym “BEM”. I hereby present what I believe to be the very first example: it is the front cover of the August 1936 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories.

Fantastic 1980s Index

The front cover of the final issue dated October 1980

This is a rather short index as the magazine folded in 1980, with the October 1980 issue being the final one. Circulation had declined to fewer than 15,000 per issue and the magazine was simply not economically viable.

IASFM Index (1970s)

Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine was one of a number of new science fiction magazines that appeared in the late 70s. It is the only one currently being published. There are a number of factors that likely contributed to this success.

District 9

The opening sequence of District 9 stays close to Neill Blomkamp’s original short – taking the form of a faux documentary outlining problems re the alien township of District 9 – a township slum close to Johannesburg inhabited by alien refugees. We appear to be in an alternative apartheid situation based on shape prejudice rather than colour prejudice. We are also an alternate timeline because while the film is set in 2010, there are frequent references to the fact that the aliens arrived twenty years previously.

endofanera

“Fantasy Centre” in Holloway Road, North London, has closed for the last time. I had heard in May that this was due to happen because of a combination of the lease expiring and the partners being of retirement age.

Primeval

I have to say I am a fan of ITV’s “Primeval“. One or two things are starting to grate though.