Science Fiction Book Club Preview and Mail Order Zine "Things to Come" and "SFBC Universe" Catalogs, 1996-1997 Archive of 17 Issues

Science Fiction Club archive

Archive

Science Fiction Book Club promotional zine archive, 1996-1997. Seventeen booklets (nine monthly issues, four catalogs, three seasonal supplements, one special collector's issue ) with previews and mail order forms for new speculative fiction, including works by canonical writers including Asimov, Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clarke beside contemporary series authors; Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Orson Scott Card. Full page cover illustrations and interior display art records the Science Fiction Club distinctive mid-century sci-fi/fantasy aesthetics.

Things To Come. The Science Fiction Book Club, Indianapolis: Book Club Service Center, 1996-197. Seventeen illustrated, staple bound booklets, each approximately 15 to 25 pages. 7.75 x 5 inches. Archive includes:

[1] SFBC Universe, Summer 1996, W227-1. Alphabetical inventory catalog listing available titles by author or editor, with stock numbers and member prices.

[2] Things to Come, Summer 1996. C.J. Cherryh’s Inheritor and Steve Perry’s Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire share the cover; the featured spread announces Cherryh’s novel as “The dramatic conclusion of the acclaimed Foreigner trilogy.”

[3] SFBC Universe, Winter 1996, T966-1. Updated club inventory, introduced by Ellen Asher and arranged alphabetically, with separate treatment of licensed Star Trek and Star Wars volumes.

[4] Things to Come, Winter 1996. Mercedes Lackey’s Storm Breaking and Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Star Wars: The New Rebellion appear beneath a snowbound dragon illustration; an interior spread identifies Storm Breaking as the conclusion of the Mage Storms trilogy.

[5] Things to Come, January 1997. David Brin’s Infinity’s Shore and Terry Pratchett’s Feet of Clay, with illustrations from Wayne Barlowe’s Guide to Fantasy and a featured spread promoting Brin’s continuation of the second Uplift sequence.

[6] Special Expanded Issue, February 1997. Orson Scott Card’s Children of the Mind and Roger MacBride Allen’s Isaac Asimov’s Utopia, with Card’s novel described as “The Conclusion to Ender’s Saga”; the issue also promotes the Magic: The Gathering Official Encyclopedia.

[7] Things to Come, March 1997. Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonseye, with Mercedes Lackey’s Firebird and Ian McDowell’s Mordred’s Curse as a dual selection; the editorial page records the 1996 World Fantasy Award winners.

[8] Things to Come, April 1997. “See Inside for 3001” appears across a black monolith cover, while Kate Elliott’s King’s Dragon receives the featured interior spread.

[9] Special Expanded Issue, May 1997. Terry Goodkind’s Blood of the Fold and Gregory Benford’s Foundation’s Fear, with full page dragon art by Kevin Murphy and promotional copy positioning Goodkind’s novel as the sequel to Stone of Tears.

[10] Things to Come, June 1997. Jack McDevitt’s Eternity Road and Charles Sheffield’s Convergence form a dual selection, joined by Barbara Hambly’s Star Wars: Planet of Twilight.

[11] SFBC Universe, Summer 1997, A055-1. Updated alphabetical inventory with titles by Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Ray Bradbury, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Gregory Benford, and others.

[12] Things to Come, Summer 1997. Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Lady of Avalon and S. M. Stirling’s The Ship Avenged, illustrated with a green dragon and interior display art for Bradley’s novel.

[13] Special Collectors’ Issue, Mid Summer 1997. John Crowley’s Little, Big, Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, with Crowley’s novel presented in a fairy themed spread quoting Ursula K. Le Guin.

[14] Special Expanded Issue, August 1997. Gardner Dozois’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection and James Alan Gardner’s Expendable, accompanied by the editorial announcement of the 1996 Nebula Award winners.

[15] Things to Come, September 1997. C.J. Cherryh’s Finity’s End and Ian McDowell’s Merlin’s Gift, with an interior spread devoted to Cherryh’s return to the Merchanter setting.

[16] Special Collectors’ Issue, Mid Winter 1997. Gardner Dozois’s Modern Classics of Fantasy and Robert A. Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, with advertisements for Patti Perret’s The Faces of Fantasy, John Clute and Peter Nicholls’s The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and Anne McCaffrey’s Serve It Forth.

[17] SFBC Universe, Winter 1997, Y390-1. Alphabetical stock catalog introduced by Asher as an updated listing of “all the books offered by the Club,” designed for use with the regular member reply form or the extra order form bound into the booklet.

The Science Fiction Book Club was a mail order book club established in 1953. The club advertised and distributed canonical anthologies, contemporary experiments and discounted classics. The mail order format preserves the mechanics of genre circulation in the early days of chain bookstores and online retail displacing the mail order club model. Light edge wear, occasional corner creasing, rubbing, and moderate toning; staples secure and interiors complete. Overall very good condition. A late 90s record of the Science Fiction Book Club's mail distributed catalog network.

Item #23716

Price: $450.00