Mag Bag #2

First Published:
Sonic Screwdriver #91

Publish Date:
Aug 1995

And welcome to the second edition of the Mag Bag. Lots of new zines, and a few repeats. To save space, I’ll be cutting the details on the recurring zines (with full info provided twice a year). But space is short — let’s launch into them!

Zine: Time Brains 2013
Issue: 19 & 20
Still the source for stacks of news on science fiction stuff — and even more Sydney fandom in-jokes. Issue 20 has interviews with John ‘Benton’ Levene and Paul Cornell but also has several pages made illegible by shocking choices of fonts…
Rating: • • & • • • (out of 5)

Zine: Mistfall
Issue: 16
Editor: Trevor Gensch & Robin Stewart (Brisbane DWFC)
Address: PO Box 10308, Adelaide Street, Brisbane 4000
Cost: $11 per three issues
This issue came in an a sealed bag, with Ace on the cover complaining about the smell of it. Either I had a blocked nose, or they forgot to flavour mine! Anyway, to the content: well, variable. You get a big chunk of club stuff, some sensational layout, and over a dozen Peter Shaw comics, legend that he is. Unfortunately, they’ve been poorly scanned for this issue, lowering their impact. Full of opinions and silly things; this issue also has a report by an extra in Downtime, the upcoming Yeti story.
Rating: • • • •

Zine: Strange Matter
Issue: 13
Editor: Sian O’Neale
Address: 185 Kooyong Road, Toorak, 3142
Cost: An ‘apazine" – available for trade or contribution — get a sample for three 45¢ stamps
Wow. Someone actually sent me a zine because of this column. Strange Matter covers not only Doctor Who but music, tea drinking – whatever! There’s energy and variety here in a hefty 44 pages. Regular features of the zine review and letter columns are well-inhabited. A good solid read.
Rating: • • • 1/2

Zine: Data Extract
Issue: 113
Nothing too special this time around, as I saw it. If you like lots of reviews, though, this is your thing.
Rating: • • 1/2

Zine: Broadsword
Issue: 3
Continues the fine early tradition of this zine, and at twice the size of the first two issues! Includes a Paul Cornell interview and a weird story by David Golding. Quality down a tad, but very good nonetheless.
Rating: • • • •

Zine: Chameleon Factor
Issue: 68
Chameleon Factor is a gorgeous-looking fanzine. As it is being printed professionally rather than with your standard home printer, the editor, Matthew Fazakerley, can get away with things us mortals dare not even think of. Paul Cornell must have been busy recently, as we have yet another interview with him in here. Best bits are the piece on drawing and the fiction piece ‘The Pure Fluid of Life".
Rating: • • • 1/2

Zine: BOG OFF!
Issues: p, 86.3%, Borg (yes, I know it’s silly!)
Editors: Sarah J Groenewegen & Kate Orman
Address: GPO Box 597, Sydney, NSW 2001
Cost: $3 in stamps per issue
If you’re a little narrow-minded, you’d probably avoid this zine. But to do so would be to miss some superb essays and editorials. Readability is prime here, with lots of silly lively scrawls everywhere, and hilarious pieces like ‘The Left-handed prose-style" and e.e. cummings’ version of Timewyrm: Genesys…
Ratings: • • • • • & • • • • 1/2 & • • •

Zine: Eternity
Issue: 4
A great step up from issue three – regular Sonic contributer Andrew Deans is now Production Editor, and the overall look is much more stable. The reviews are actually interesting, and Tristan Nieto has done another sensational computer picture — this time a Cyberdude… Straight into the charts with a bullet.
Rating: • • • 1/2

And that’s it — go read a zine today!

End of Review

This page last updated by David J Richardson on Wed, 20 Apr 2005.