Fantasy Newsletter archive During the Transition of Independent Fanzine to University Based Fantasy Criticism, 9 Issues, 1981-82

Fantasy Newsletter Science Fiction Fantasy

Periodical

Fantasy Newsletter near consecutive nine issue run, May 1981 to February 1982, documenting the publication’s transfer from Paul and Susan Allen’s independently produced news magazine to Robert A. Collins and Florida Atlantic University during the early institutional development of fantasy and science fiction studies. Paul C. Allen had founded Fantasy Newsletter in 1978 and received the 1980 World Fantasy Award in the Special Non Professional category for the publication; Robert A. Collins, who assumed the editorship during this run, received the same award for Fantasy Newsletter in 1982. Whole Nos. 37 through 45 preserve the transition without a break in monthly sequence. The editorial transfer placed a publication built within science fiction and fantasy fandom into the university environment where Collins had founded the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts in 1980, connecting the periodical’s established network of writers, critics, collectors, reviewers, and artists with an emerging academic infrastructure for the study of the fantastic.

Fantasy Newsletter. The Monthly News Magazine of the Fantasy and Science Fiction Field. Vol. 4, Nos. 4, and 5 through 12 and Vol. 5, Nos. 1 through 2. Rochester, New York and Boca Raton, Florida: Paul and Susan Allen; Florida Atlantic University, May 1981 to February 1982. Nine almost consecutive stapled issues, the first seven comprising 36 pages each and the final two 40 pages each.

[1] Vol. 4, No. 5, Whole No. 36. May 1981. Fritz Leiber’s recurring “On Fantasy” column considers Stephen King’s Danse Macabre and the relationship between literary and cinematic horror, while Mike Ashley contributes “The British Scene,” Charles L. Grant supplies the fiction “The Residents,” and Bill Warren writes “Warren’s News & Reviews.” The issue credits Real Musgrave’s “Spellbound” as cover art and includes work by Cora Lee Nealy, Michael Morrison, R. Garcia Capella, and Stephen Fabian.

[2] Vol. 4, No. 7, Whole No. 38. July 1981. Karl Edward Wagner contributes “On Fantasy” and is interviewed by Jeffrey M. Elliot; Mike Ashley’s “The British Scene” and Douglas E. Winter’s “Shadowings” extend the issue’s combination of author commentary, genre criticism, and publishing coverage. The contents page credits Sabrina Jarema with the cover “Cyn Laya by the Silver Lake” and “Victory at the Armageddon” on the back cover.

[3] Vol. 4, No. 8, Whole No. 39. August 1981. Fritz Leiber returns to “On Fantasy,” Jeffrey M. Elliot continues his interview with Karl Edward Wagner, Bill Warren contributes “Warren’s News & Reviews,” and Mike Ashley reports on British fantasy publishing. The issue’s Randy Broecker cover, “The Sacrifice,” accompanies interior work credited to Allen Koszowski, Susan Dexter, Carl Sherrell, and John Mayer.

[4] Vol. 4, No. 9, Whole No. 40. September 1981. Jessica Amanda Salmonson contributes the guest editorial, Douglas E. Winter writes “Shadowings,” Robert Weinberg discusses “Collecting Fantasy,” Bill Warren supplies his news and reviews column, Mike Ashley covers “The British Scene,” and Neil Barron contributes “Secrets from the Vault.” Stephen Fabian provides the cover illustration, with additional art by Karen Kuykendall, Michael Morrison, Carl Sherrell, and R. Garcia Capella.

[5] Vol. 4, No. 10, Whole No. 41. October 1981. The final issue in the group still identifying Paul and Susan Allen as publishers includes Leiber’s “On Fantasy,” Weinberg’s “Collecting Fantasy,” Ashley’s “The British Scene,” and Jeffrey Elliot’s interview with Juanita Coulson. Robert Arrington’s “Whitestone” appears as the cover illustration, with interior work credited to Raul Garcia Capella and Allen Koszowski.

[6] Vol. 4, No. 11, Whole No. 42. November 1981. The masthead now states that Fantasy Newsletter is published monthly by Florida Atlantic University through its Division of Continuing Education and identifies Robert A. Collins as editor. Contents include Karl Edward Wagner’s “Celluloid S&S: Boon or Menace?,” Douglas E. Winter on Stephen King’s Cujo under the heading “Nope, nothing wrong here,” and Darrell Schweitzer’s interview with Tanith Lee, while Raul Garcia Capella supplies the cover.

[7] Vol. 4, No. 12, Whole No. 43. December 1981. Fritz Leiber contributes “On Fantasy,” Roger Schlobin writes “The Fool and the Fantastic,” Jeffrey Elliot interviews Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and Somtow Sucharitkul contributes “A Certain Slant of ‘I’.” The contents also include J. Ward Barnes’s poem “Return Orbit,” with Hank Jankus credited for the cover and Charles Vess for the back cover.

[8] Vol. 5, No. 1, Whole No. 44. January 1982. Robert A. Collins is named editor, with Jan Hokenson as assistant editor and Joy M. Schwab as business manager. Somtow Sucharitkul contributes “The Horror...The Horror...,” James Gunn writes “Inner Concerns in Outer Space,” Karl Edward Wagner memorializes artist Lee Brown Coye, Douglas E. Winter interviews Charles L. Grant and reports on the Seventh World Fantasy Convention, and Joan Digby discusses “The Fantastic Collages of John Digby.”

[9] Vol. 5, No. 2, Whole No. 45. February 1982. Mark Siegel contributes “The Pornography of Violence,” Fritz Leiber writes “On Fantasy: The Chess Connection,” Bill Warren contributes “Stealing a Little Time For Kids,” Somtow Sucharitkul continues “The Horror...Part 2,” Timothy R. Sullivan supplies the fiction “The Army of the Woods,” Mike Ashley reports on the British scene, and Douglas E. Winter concludes his interview with Charles L. Grant. The issue lists Robert A. Collins as editor and credits Sabrina P. Jarema with “Army of the Woods” on the cover and additional illustrations inside.

The ten month sequence records a point at which distinctions among fan publishing, professional genre journalism, literary criticism, and academic fantasy studies were becoming increasingly permeable. Under the Allens, Fantasy Newsletter already combined trade reporting and book reviewing with sustained critical columns by working writers including Leiber and Wagner, coverage of the British field by Mike Ashley, collecting history by Robert Weinberg, and interviews conducted by Jeffrey M. Elliot. Collins’s accession did not discard that structure. The first Florida Atlantic University issues retain many of the same contributors while adding the university’s institutional imprint and placing writers including Tanith Lee, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Charles L. Grant, James Gunn, and Somtow Sucharitkul within a publication increasingly positioned between fandom and formal literary study. Collins had founded the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts at Florida Atlantic University in 1980, and the organization developed around the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts as a scholarly forum for science fiction and fantasy. The World Fantasy Awards trace the same transfer unusually clearly: Allen won for Fantasy Newsletter in 1980, while Collins won for the same publication in 1982. Light toning and minor edge wear, with scattered light handling marks and occasional soiling; wrappers and staples generally intact. Overall very good condition. A near consecutive record of Fantasy Newsletter at the moment an independently produced fantasy newszine entered a university setting while retaining the writers, artists, reviewers, and critical practices that connected organized fandom to the developing academic study of speculative literature.

Item #23735

Price: $550.00