Collection of More Than 1500 Science-Fiction Zines from the late 1950s to the late 1990s
- SIGNED Hardcover
Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. A collection of more than 1500 science-fiction fanzines from the library of Dwain Kaiser, who was a contributor and editor to them for more than 50 years. The majority of the issues contained here are from the late 1950s to the late 1990s, along with a dozen dating back to 1941. Peppered throughout the collection are also hundreds of broadsheets for special events, announcements, auctions and member elections. The collection stretches from the early New Wave of science-fiction fandom, with zines composed of mimeographed or spirit duplicated sheets, up through the Modern Era with semi-professional zines, sometimes produced at small local print shops or using early home computers. In addition, there are more than 60 pieces of original art from over a dozen fanzine artists that range from small spot illustrations to original covers, as well as a smattering of letters to Kaiser and original manuscripts from a number of contributors. Overall very good or better, with addresses and stamps from mailing, general toning, and typical wear on the paper wrappers, such as nicks, tears and detached sheets.
Dwain Kaiser became a passionate fan immediately upon discovering a copy of the zine *Cursed* in 1961. He soon founded the Las Vegas Science-Fiction Society and would go on to co-found the Valley Science Fiction Association (ValSFA) and join the well-established Los Angeles Science Fiction Association (LASFA) after moving back to Los Angeles with his family in 1966. He also helped create a number of local Amateur Press Associations (APA-45, Gestalt, and TAPS, to name a few) and contributed or published dozens of zines, such as *Astron*, *Nimrod*, *The Terrean* and *Nonstop Fun is Hard on the Heart* (a number of these, and others, are included here). In addition, to his activity in fandom, Kaiser also ran a bookstore that catered to science-fiction and fantasy called Magic Door, which first opened its doors in 1967 and at its height had several locations around the Los Angeles area.
The origin of science-fiction fandom goes back to the 1930s when readers started corresponding with one another after their comments and addresses appeared in the letter columns of pulp magazines. Soon amateurs began producing their own fan-created magazines, or “fanzines,” devoted to the discussion of science-fiction and fantasy. Fanzines were usually available to anyone in exchange for a copy of their own fanzine or through a contribution, such as story, article, book review, illustration, or, its most essential element, a letter of comment (LoC). Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert, who first cut his teeth writing for zines, puts it this way: "LoCs were the currency of payment for fanzine contributors; you wrote, and in the next issue got to read about what you had written. Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what [editors] Harry Warner [*Horizons*] or Buck Coulson [*Yandro*] had to say about me — well, that was important."
LoCs spurred conversation, with some topics or arguments dragging on for weeks or months, with members debating issues, taking sides, forming cliques, creating in-jokes, and (of course) hurl insults. Not surprisingly, with advancements in technology, science-fiction fans were some of the earliest adopters of personal computers, first to produce zines, but later to move discussions online into early chatrooms and message boards. “I have always been convinced that the culture of sf fanzines contributed heavily to the formative culture of the early Web, and generated models for web site and blogs,” says Ebert. “The very tone of the discourse is similar, and like fanzines, the Web took new word coinages, turned them into acronyms, and ran with them.”
The zines here were produced in short runs by small groups of fans for a limited audience. The dictates of the magazine and its ambitions were often guided by its most vocal or passionate members, such as *Pointing Vector* published by John Boardman or *By Strange Unseen Gods* by Kaiser. Others were more rote, preferring standard, formulaic layout and presentation. The wide variety of zines reflected the many unique personalities in fandom whether one was interested in personal zines, letter substitutes (*Not Just For Yule*), postal diplomacy games (*Diplomania*) or even travelogues, typically convention based (*Atom Abroad*).
A surprising number of established writers appeared in or got their start in fanzines. It was not uncommon to see well-known names as regular contributors of LoCs, or providing original stories, humorous anecdotes, convention reports, interviews, or even the occasional fan-like diatribes (usually Harlan Ellison). They include Robert Bloch, Robet Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, George R.R. Martin, William Gibson, Piers Anthony, Roger Zelazny, L. Sprague de Camp, André Norton, Poul and Karen Anderson, Gene Wolfe, August Derleth, Michael Moorcock, Avram Davidson and John W. Campbell. Among the more notable contributions printed in the zines found in this collection are:
• Several Philip K. Dick interviews and letters, some expressing his paranoia and schizophrenia.
• Original stories by Philip José Farmer (“On a Mountain Upside Down”), John Brunner (“Traders of the Worst Bark”), Larry Niven (“The Way Out”), and Ray Nelson (“The Art of Morality”)
• Letters from Ebert, Ellison, Silverberg, Zelazny, Ursula Le Guin, Donald Wollheim, James Blish, and Terry Pratchett (seven years before his first novel).
• An account of transgender author Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s “sexual reassignment” surgery and recovery.
• “A Child’s Garden of Scientology” by Bob Lichtman, an article describing the process of the E-Meter, “auditing,” and what Scientology has (or hasn’t) to offer you.
• Editorials and letters on Breendoggle, the fandom-wide feud over the child sex offender Walter Breen, husband of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who defended him but was later revealed to have known about his proclivities.
• Personal copies of zines from Leiber, Ross Rocklynn, Philip Salin, Bill Blackbeard, Bjo Trimble, Gil Lamont, Glenn Lord, and Rog Philips; and with two Signed by Niven and A. E. van Vogt.
• More than 50 international zines from Sweden, Germany, Israel, England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Canada, and Australia.
The collection also distinguishes itself because it includes more than 60 pieces of original art retained by Kaiser during the production of various zines. The art here is rendered in pencil, ink and marker, and is accompanied by a number of pieces showing the various stages of production: stencils, carbon transfers and photocopies, some with pasted on or tape elements, such as captions. The drawings range from small 2” x 2” spot illustrations to 8” x 11” cover images from prolific and popular zine artists such as: William Rotsler, REG (Robert E. Gilbert), Bruce Duncan, Keith Tucker, Jim Keith, Dany Frolich, Alan Whit, Jurgen Wolff, Ran Scott, and Carl Brandon (of Sweden). Some of the standouts are the art for the covers of *It’s Interapa Time #3* and *Jacking Top #1*; the full back cover of *The N3F Wants You Like This – Number Two* featuring a human-sized dinosaur and woman in a bikini by REG; and more than a dozen interior illustrations from various artists featured throughout the Kaiser-produced *Astron – 3*.
A substantial collection of more than 1500 fanzines, from a contributing member of the Los Angeles fanzine community for more than 40 years, featuring a wide array of uncommon and rare publications. The vast majority of these are not located in *OCLC* and those that are exist in small numbers. A wonderful collection with a detailed list of each zine is available.
Dwain Kaiser became a passionate fan immediately upon discovering a copy of the zine *Cursed* in 1961. He soon founded the Las Vegas Science-Fiction Society and would go on to co-found the Valley Science Fiction Association (ValSFA) and join the well-established Los Angeles Science Fiction Association (LASFA) after moving back to Los Angeles with his family in 1966. He also helped create a number of local Amateur Press Associations (APA-45, Gestalt, and TAPS, to name a few) and contributed or published dozens of zines, such as *Astron*, *Nimrod*, *The Terrean* and *Nonstop Fun is Hard on the Heart* (a number of these, and others, are included here). In addition, to his activity in fandom, Kaiser also ran a bookstore that catered to science-fiction and fantasy called Magic Door, which first opened its doors in 1967 and at its height had several locations around the Los Angeles area.
The origin of science-fiction fandom goes back to the 1930s when readers started corresponding with one another after their comments and addresses appeared in the letter columns of pulp magazines. Soon amateurs began producing their own fan-created magazines, or “fanzines,” devoted to the discussion of science-fiction and fantasy. Fanzines were usually available to anyone in exchange for a copy of their own fanzine or through a contribution, such as story, article, book review, illustration, or, its most essential element, a letter of comment (LoC). Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert, who first cut his teeth writing for zines, puts it this way: "LoCs were the currency of payment for fanzine contributors; you wrote, and in the next issue got to read about what you had written. Today I can see my name on a full-page ad for a movie with disinterest, but what [editors] Harry Warner [*Horizons*] or Buck Coulson [*Yandro*] had to say about me — well, that was important."
LoCs spurred conversation, with some topics or arguments dragging on for weeks or months, with members debating issues, taking sides, forming cliques, creating in-jokes, and (of course) hurl insults. Not surprisingly, with advancements in technology, science-fiction fans were some of the earliest adopters of personal computers, first to produce zines, but later to move discussions online into early chatrooms and message boards. “I have always been convinced that the culture of sf fanzines contributed heavily to the formative culture of the early Web, and generated models for web site and blogs,” says Ebert. “The very tone of the discourse is similar, and like fanzines, the Web took new word coinages, turned them into acronyms, and ran with them.”
The zines here were produced in short runs by small groups of fans for a limited audience. The dictates of the magazine and its ambitions were often guided by its most vocal or passionate members, such as *Pointing Vector* published by John Boardman or *By Strange Unseen Gods* by Kaiser. Others were more rote, preferring standard, formulaic layout and presentation. The wide variety of zines reflected the many unique personalities in fandom whether one was interested in personal zines, letter substitutes (*Not Just For Yule*), postal diplomacy games (*Diplomania*) or even travelogues, typically convention based (*Atom Abroad*).
A surprising number of established writers appeared in or got their start in fanzines. It was not uncommon to see well-known names as regular contributors of LoCs, or providing original stories, humorous anecdotes, convention reports, interviews, or even the occasional fan-like diatribes (usually Harlan Ellison). They include Robert Bloch, Robet Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Fritz Leiber, George R.R. Martin, William Gibson, Piers Anthony, Roger Zelazny, L. Sprague de Camp, André Norton, Poul and Karen Anderson, Gene Wolfe, August Derleth, Michael Moorcock, Avram Davidson and John W. Campbell. Among the more notable contributions printed in the zines found in this collection are:
• Several Philip K. Dick interviews and letters, some expressing his paranoia and schizophrenia.
• Original stories by Philip José Farmer (“On a Mountain Upside Down”), John Brunner (“Traders of the Worst Bark”), Larry Niven (“The Way Out”), and Ray Nelson (“The Art of Morality”)
• Letters from Ebert, Ellison, Silverberg, Zelazny, Ursula Le Guin, Donald Wollheim, James Blish, and Terry Pratchett (seven years before his first novel).
• An account of transgender author Jessica Amanda Salmonson’s “sexual reassignment” surgery and recovery.
• “A Child’s Garden of Scientology” by Bob Lichtman, an article describing the process of the E-Meter, “auditing,” and what Scientology has (or hasn’t) to offer you.
• Editorials and letters on Breendoggle, the fandom-wide feud over the child sex offender Walter Breen, husband of Marion Zimmer Bradley, who defended him but was later revealed to have known about his proclivities.
• Personal copies of zines from Leiber, Ross Rocklynn, Philip Salin, Bill Blackbeard, Bjo Trimble, Gil Lamont, Glenn Lord, and Rog Philips; and with two Signed by Niven and A. E. van Vogt.
• More than 50 international zines from Sweden, Germany, Israel, England, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Spain, Canada, and Australia.
The collection also distinguishes itself because it includes more than 60 pieces of original art retained by Kaiser during the production of various zines. The art here is rendered in pencil, ink and marker, and is accompanied by a number of pieces showing the various stages of production: stencils, carbon transfers and photocopies, some with pasted on or tape elements, such as captions. The drawings range from small 2” x 2” spot illustrations to 8” x 11” cover images from prolific and popular zine artists such as: William Rotsler, REG (Robert E. Gilbert), Bruce Duncan, Keith Tucker, Jim Keith, Dany Frolich, Alan Whit, Jurgen Wolff, Ran Scott, and Carl Brandon (of Sweden). Some of the standouts are the art for the covers of *It’s Interapa Time #3* and *Jacking Top #1*; the full back cover of *The N3F Wants You Like This – Number Two* featuring a human-sized dinosaur and woman in a bikini by REG; and more than a dozen interior illustrations from various artists featured throughout the Kaiser-produced *Astron – 3*.
A substantial collection of more than 1500 fanzines, from a contributing member of the Los Angeles fanzine community for more than 40 years, featuring a wide array of uncommon and rare publications. The vast majority of these are not located in *OCLC* and those that are exist in small numbers. A wonderful collection with a detailed list of each zine is available.