to The SCIENCE FICTION BOOK CLUB NEWS |
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SCIENCE FICTION NEWS
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SCIENCE FICTION NEWS was the house newsletter of the SFBC, issued along with each book choice, giving information on forthcoming choices along with other short articles and book commentaries, and sometimes fiction and poetry.. The book reviews were usually on current or forthcoming choices, and invariably upbeat - no-one was going to say that for example Agnew Bahnson's THE STARS ARE TOO HIGH was a worthy but eminently forgettable and rather dull tome. That said they are always interesting and readable and generally good reviews in every sense. It's not clear who wrote them, highly likely the SFN editor of the day, or perhaps one of the SFBC selectors; almost all reviews were uncredited. SFN was edited by various hands - including Herbert Jones, Oliver Caldecott, and Ildiko Hayes. SFN began with the first SFBC issue, EARTH ABIDES, March 1953, and carried on until number 107 for April 1966. At that point it ceased as an independent entity and was absorbed into the Readers Union leaflet READERS NEWS, where at best the SFBC was given a page or so, at worst and usual there seemed only grudgingly-given space for simple details of the present and forthcoming SFBC issues. In January 1979 there was a revival under a new name - The SCIENCE FICTION BOOK CLUB NEWS See the associated webpage for further information on that. Parts of it were excellent. The editors of SFN were sometimes credited - 1 - 37 HERBERT JONES ; 38 - 46 - OLIVER CALDECOTT ; 47 - 50 - ILDIKO HAYES ; 51 - 107 NO SPECIFIC EDITOR CREDIT BUT SOME ISSUES INCLUDE PIECES SIGNED 'O.C' LIKELY TO BE OLIVER CALDECOTT. NB there is one renegade item in SFN 60 entitled 'Editorial' signed 'A.M.' Some notable SFN pieces - I have not included general editoral discussion (often unsigned) of the club and its books; although the reviews of choices are interesting and informative even if obviously positive 1 - Intro to SFBC Review of 'Earth Abides'; Arthur C Clarke on Bradbury; Reply to letter about SFBC from Mrs D Telling, by John Carnell; Introduction of 'cwb' (Cecil W Bacon), Dustjacket Designer ('swirly') 2 - Review of Martian Chronicles by Angus Wilson; unsigned piece on Fans and Fan Clubs; 'Space Diversions' Advert 3 - Review of 'Last and First Men' by Arthur C Clarke; Report on London Convention 1953 4 - Review of 'Tomorrow Sometimes Comes' (Francis G Rayer) by Andrew Marvell; Report of IFA Award Presentation 1953 5 - Review of 'Minimum Man' by Angus Wilson; Article on 'Fifty Years of Science Fiction' by JG Porter; Notice of competition - essays on 'My Favourite Science Fiction Novel'. 6 - Review of Carnell-edited anthology 'No Place Like Earth' by Francis G Rayer 7 - Editorial 'Who Reads Science Fiction'; Review of 'I, Robot' by Walter Gillings; Report of SFBC competition results; reader's letters on Favourite Sf Novels 8 - Review of 'Voyage of the Space Beagle' by Herbert Jones; long editorial regarding reader feedback with examples; editorial 'Points of View' rebutting remarks in a 'New Statesman' article antagonistic to SF (by Prof ACB Lovell (Bernard Lovell of Jodrell Bank) 9 - List of Sf Fan Clubs 10 - Review of 'Odd John' by Michael Harrison 11 - Editorial on Alfred Bester - Including a letter lrom Bester - and 'the Demolished Man'. Members letters on anthologies 12 - 'Great Stories of Science Fiction' Edited by Murray Leinster, reviewed by John Carnell 13 - Editorial Reviews of 'The Kraken Wakes' and 'Fahrenheit 451' 14 - Piece on Fan Clubs; including North-east and Cheltenham 17 - Article 'SF and IQ' by JG Porter 18 - Reviews of 'Caves of Steel' by William F Temple; 'Hampdenshire Wonder' by IO Evans 20 - Notice of Competition - 'the World of 1984' 23 - Report on George Orwell Competition (See No 20) by Julian Symons; includes short essay on '1984' 25 - Editorial on upcoming London Worldcon; 1957 26 - Article 'Extraordinary Fiction' by Brian Aldiss 28 - Article 'Passing the Time' by Asimov; Editorial 'argument' about definitions of SF 29 - International Fantasy Awards 1957 Results 30 - Note by Herbert Jones on SFBC being bought by Phoenix House 32 - 'How Will the World End' Discussion of interview with Fred Hoyle 34 - 'Editorial 'What is Sf'; Letter from Patrick Moore about his book 'Science and Fiction' 35 - Announcement of Sf Story Competion; Limit 750 Words 37 - Editorial on SF by Non-sf Authors 38 - Short Story Competition Results 41 - 'Marxists and Mars' editorial discussion of article by Maurice Goldsmith in 'New Statesman'; BSFA Advert; review of SFBC Extra 'The Neon Halo' Jean-Louis Curtis 43 - Competition - Supply ending to incomplete story provided in this issue 44 - Article 'Science Fiction and the Truth' (SF and Religion) Signed 'I.H' (Ildiko Hayes) 45 - 'A Russian Utopia' - review of Yefremov's 'Andromeda' by 'I.H.' (Ildiko Hayes) 46 - 'Ruminations of an Addict'; article by Kingsley Amis who joins Carnell and Porter on SFBC Selection Panel; Winners of 'ending' competion (See No 43) Winner is Mrs G Wicks; Second Prize to Peter R Weston 47 - Third Prize Winner of 'ending' - Jt Rutter 50 - 'Quo Vadis'; discussion on predictions for SF Magazines on BBC Third Programme by Lawrence Alloway. Competition announcement for 'New Name for Science Fiction' 51 - 'Ourselves and Vector' response to discussion of SFBC in BSFA's journal VECTOR 55 - 'What is the Appeal of Sf' extract by Edmund Crispin, reprinted from frticle 'The Detective Story' in TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT; 'SF Art' - announcement of new cover art for Sfbc - John Griffiths' 'Tree Ring' design supplants cwb's 'swirly' 56 - Discussion of Fred Hoyle and science in SF; editorial on size and form of SFBC books 57 - Two readers aetters; Offer to buy short fiction and articles for publication in SFN 58 - Letters discussing new SFBC dustjacket art; reprint From 'Jazz Monthly' of 'SF and All That Jazz' by John Postgate 59 - Five Readers Letters 60 - Editorial 'Science - Fact or Fiction?' signed by 'a.m.' 61 - Fiction 'New Bodies for Old' by David Morton (See No 57) 62 - Article 'Oh; for a Bug-eyed Monster' by William Auld (See No 57) 63 - Fiction 'The Macrocosmic Game' by KW George (See No 57) 64 - Fiction 'Venus Probe' by Bennett Shan (See No 57) 65 - Fiction 'A Matter of Timing' by Hugh Jenkyns. Letter From 'A.G.' of Durham 67 - Fiction 'Transfer' by Norman Sutcliffe (See No 57) 68 - Article 'French Science Fiction' by J Piette 69 - Fiction 'A Satanic 'God' by Chris Williams (See No 57) 70 - Announcement of Poetry Competition suggested by CD Winstone of Birmingham 74 - Fiction 'A Moment of Suspense' by DE Ellis (See No 57) 75 - Fiction 'The Missing Piece' by Richard Sproat (See No 57) 79 - Poetry Competition results adjudicated by Robert Conquest - published poems by Douglas J Livingstone; KW George; and BM Henley 80 - Fiction 'The Immortal' by GS Cole (See No 57) 81 - Fiction 'A Fork in the Road' by Barrie Lamb (See No 57) 83 - Notice of New Magazine; 'Zenith' Produced by PR Weston; 'Something Monstrous This Way Comes' - short unsigned piece believed to be by Ildiko Hayes on 1964 Worldcon; Fiction 'The Redeemer' by Austin Sinclair (See No 57) 85 - Science Fiction and Anarchism' Extracts from essay by John Pilgrim published in ANARCHY Issue 34 86 - Fiction 'The Answer' by Charles Platt (See No 57) 87 - Notice promoting the BSFA 88 - Letters in response to John Pilgrim piece in No 85 91 - Letter from Mrs M.C of Coventry; on difficulty of understanding Ballard stories in 'Four Dimensional Nightmare' 92 - Article 'fiction+fact=possibilty', drawn from contributions to the British Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting (1964) 93 - Part Two of 'fiction+fact=possibility' in No 92 95 - Six Letters; some with reference to Ballard issue raised in No 91 97 - Part Three of 'fiction+fact=possibility' Signed by Dr DMA Mercer 100 - Seven Letters; Notice and details of BSFA 102 - 'The Last Lap' article by Christopher Priest on a turning point in SF 103 - Seven Letters; Article 'Science Fiction and Philosophy' Part One by Richard Gordon, reprinted from BSFA's VECTOR 104 - 'science Fiction and Philosophy' by Richard Gordon Part Two; Four Letters 105 - Three Letters; article 'The Drowned Plot of JG Ballard' Part One; by JP Patrizio, reprinted from 'ZENITH SPECULATION' 106 - Article 'The Drowned Plot of JG Ballard' Part Two; Letters (Three); Notice and Details of 'ZENITH SPECULATION'; Notice from Science Fiction Society of the University of East Anglia from Treasurer M Costello 107 - Article 'The New Establishment' by Ian R Mcaulay reprinted from 'ZENITH SPECULATION' NB Number 107 April 1966 is last of the original form. From here onwards SFBC material is incorporated into READERS NEWS which covered several book clubs, until SCIENCE FICTION BOOK CLUB NEWS starts in January 1979. |
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