4,000 and counting: Galaxis Science Fiction and Science

Open publication - Free publishing - More comics

This morning I woke up to a milestone – no, that's not something a doctor needs to remove. It's a marker of achievement. This morning's milestone was 4,000, the number of people who have read or sampled my all-digital magazine Galaxis.

Yes, 4,000 people is a small group compared to the tens of thousands or millions of big magazines. But for a magazine entirely written, designed, produced, and marketed by one person – me, with the exception of the cover painting – I think 4,000 is a good number for now.

"For now" because that number keeps growing. Have you read Galaxis? If you're into science and science fiction, you might want to take a look. (And if you're really into paper editions, you can purchase a print-on-demand copy from MagCloud.) Except for the print-on-demand edition, Galaxis is free to read online or even download to your computer/smartphone/tablet/whatever. Just look for the download link or icon.

Digital Magazines Magma & Galaxis Keep Growing

I was so pleased in late June when I noted here that my digital science-fiction/science magazine Galaxis had reached the 1,000 viewers milestone.

Today, I happened to notice that my previous digital magazine, Magma (a magazine about the magazine industry), had also reached 1,000 viewers. That was a very pleasant surprise; I knew Galaxis had a larger audience, because science fiction is a popular topic. But Magma caters to a much more specialized reader.

So now Magma is at 1,000 and counting. And Galaxis keeps zooming along; as of today, it's at 1,600!

Enjoy them both!

Open publication - Free publishing - More weimar

I should note that the second issue of Galaxis is well under way and should be available (from issuu and magcloud) in early September. As always, you can find all of my publications at my main website.

Open publication - Free publishing - More futurism

Internet Domain Names Galore: The Internet Me

ICANN, the international body that regulates top-level domain names – those suffixes such as .com or .de or .ws at the ends of web and email addresses – is going to dramatically increase their number. And here's the cool/stupid/fun part: practically anyone can have one of their own top-level domains, for a paltry $185,000 fee.

The BBC reports that new domains could be things like .coke or .bbc. Frankly, this is a dream come true to me, because back when I was an editor at Internet World magazine I used to joke that I always hoped to have my own top-level domain. That way, I could have an email address of johnzipperer@johnzipperer.johnzipperer

Now I know I was not being silly; I was prescient.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #153, April 1990: Quantum Leap into the 1990s

In its early years, every autumn Starlog published a science-fiction television issue, with previews of all of the genre series and specials for the fall season. That tradition died out in the early 1980s, though Starlog would continue occasionally to produce issues with heavy concentrations of TV-related articles and bill the issues as SF-TV specials.

Same with this issue, which is cover-dated April and which therefore came out in March 1990. Not exactly the beginning of the television season. Nonetheless, Starlog #153 features a show that would be iconic for many fans: Quantum Leap, starring a very pre-Star Trek Voyager Scott Bakula as a time-tripping and body-swapping hero.

Starlog #153
76 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.95

Odd/intriguing classified ad of the month: “SCREWED BY DWFCA? Join the national club that remembers its members! Send $5.00 to The Friends of Doctor Who, ...”

The rundown: Scott Bakula and Dean Stockwell are the Quantum Leap cover boys this month; meanwhile, the contents page image is an SF illustration by artist Darrell K. Sweet. The Communications letters include comics writer Jan Strnad writing about the MPAA and the movie ratings system, a number of readers exploring Trek-analia, and more; and David McDonnell’s Medialog column reports on Disney plans to bring Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars stories to the big screen (and there’s also a photo of sometimes-genre star Sean Connery in the un-science-fiction film The Hunt for Red October, which would get its own article in a future issue, un-science-fiction-ishness and all).

Marc Shapiro interviews Alien Nation star Terri Treas; Kyle Counts profiles actress Lee Meriwether, who talks about acting as Lily Munster in The Munsters Today, as Catwoman in Batman, and as Losira in the Star Trek episode “That Which Survives” (which gets a great photo caption, commenting on her character’s ability to kill with a touch: “Meriwether as Losira from ‘That Which Survives’ will go down in Trek history as the one woman Kirk (William Shatner) didn’t want to be touched by.”); interplanetary correspondent Michael Wolff explores the implications of the Gremlins movies (with illustrations by George Kochell); Peter Bloch-Hansen talks with actress Catherine Disher, who portrays Mana in TV’s War of the Worlds; well, there might be dissension among the Doctor Who fan clubs, if the classified ads are to be believed, but the old shows continue to unspool in the video market, as David Hutchison reports in his Videolog column; and Bill Warren interviews “the man in that wonderful ice cream suit,” Ray Bradbury, who talks about USA Network’s Ray Bradbury Theater.

The Fan Network pages include Lia Pelosi’s compendium of fan organizations; Ian Spelling – who would one day write a syndicated science-fiction news column called High Trek – interviews Quantum Leap star Scott Bakula – who would one day star in Trek; Tom Weaver contributes a Q&A with actress Mala Powers, who discusses her roles in Flight of the Lost Balloon, Doomsday Machine, The Wild Wild West, and more; artist Darrell Sweet (illustrator of many genre book covers) is profiled by Erik A. Venema; Kris Gilpin checks in with actress Bibi Besch, who talks about facing The Wrath of Khan with her clueless ex; R. Erwin Kennedy reports on a stage musical version of Plan 9 from Outer Space, arguably the worst movie ever made; Jimmie Hollifield II talks with actor David Frankham about his career on screen, including Return of the Fly, Master of the World, and more; Desire Gonzales profiles actor Edward Albert (yes, the son of Eddie Albert), who discusses his role in Beauty and the Beast; Kerry O’Quinn’s column, anachronistically called From the Bridge again and not just Bridge, views the collapse of European communism through the lens of science fiction; and David McDonnell’s Liner Notes column explores his theories for why he hates making deadlines.

“I’m the most cinematic writer around – all of my short stories can be shot right off the page. If necessary, I wouldn’t do teleplays for the series, I would hand the directors the short stories and say, ‘Mark it with a red pencil.’ Each paragraph is a shot, and by the way the paragraph reads, you know whether it’s a close-up. ‘He said such-and-such-and-such’; that’s a close-up. ‘They were sitting around the room; they were discussing their problem.’ That’s a long shot, obviously. Then when someone speaks, you move in.”

–Ray Bradbury, author, interviewed by Bill Warren: “At Play in the Business of Metaphors”

To see more issues, click on Starlog Internet Archive Project below or visit The Starlog Project’s permanent home.

Famous Monsters' Revival Issue Cover Revealed

The reborn Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine has released a photo of the cover of its first issue (#251, July 2010).

I'll be there to buy it when it goes on sale, but I must say, it looks like they're playing it depressingly safe, using that corny old font for the the cover blurbs. I'd be much more interested in seeing them do a better mix of the classic logo with a fresher outlook. After the previous rebirth of the magazine was nothing more than an embarrassing attempt to reanimate a dead corpse, I am hoping the people putting out this version will try to produce a good monster magazine and worry less about aping the exact cover text of the Warren copies.

After all, the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie was a hit when it threw out the rule book and was willing to mess with the formula.

True, a cover is only one page of a many-leafed magazine. But it is the one that sets the stage for the rest that follow. I hope the inside demonstrates fresh thinking and design.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #48, July 1981: Celebrating Five Years

Starlog ends its fifth year of publication with another bumper-sized issue. It was a year of pretty big changes at the magazine and of growth at the company itself, and the coming year would bring even more changes (just wait for it). Meanwhile, Starlog releases its latest photo guidebook: TV Episode Guides, spinning off into the trade paperback series one of its most popular signature features from the magazine.

Starlog #48
100 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $3.50

A personal note: I originally purchased this issue at the Manitowoc, Wisconsin, grocery store where my family did its weekly shopping, and my mother was somewhat taken aback by the cover price of $3.50 (hey, that was a lot in those days). When we got home and I started digesting the magazine page by page, article by article, I absorbed Kerry O'Quinn's special anniversary editorial and thought it perfectly illustrated why I liked the magazine so much. I presented the editorial to her and asked her to read it to understand why I'd pay so much for a science fiction magazine.

So, the rundown: Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge, "Keeping the Kid Alive," explains the importance of keeping a youthful enthusiasm and drive in your life; the Communications section features three pages of readers offering their anniversary greetings to the magazine; short news items in Log Entries include an update on Futuropolis (a winner of the magazine's 1978 short film search that has been expanded into a 30-minute film), Vonda McIntyre's Trek novel The Entropy Effect -- in which Kirk dies -- is one of the most eagerly awaited books of the year, Terry Gilliam's Time Bandits is coming, The Shadow is coming back into action, the brouhaha following President Reagan's attempted assassination led to the renaming of the lead character in The Greatest American Hero, and more.

James H. Burns interviews Harrison Ford for his second chat with the magazine in 12 months (this time, he talks Indiana Jones); David Gerrold takes on drug abuse in his Rumblings column; in part one ("A New View") of Kerry O'Quinn's three-part interview with George Lucas, the humble producer/director/genius talks about his influences and how he handles the work; Howard Zimmerman's "Starlust" poem is reprinted from issue #29.

In the special 36-page anniversary section, a series of SF films from the past year are reviewed via photos (The Empire Strikes Back, Altered States, Flash Gordon, Galaxina, Outland, Scanners); the first part of a three-part anniversary contest begins, with a cartoon find-the-oddities quiz; Robert Greenberger examines science-fiction comics; Greenberger also compiles the past year's Starlog article index; Greenberger -- again -- provides a "Sneak Peek at the Heavy Metal Movie"; Susan Adamo interviews science-fiction artist Vincent DiFate; Joseph Veverka returns with an article on plans for the Halley Comet flyby; Greenberger is back (what, did this guy lose an office bet or something?) with yet another article, this time a preview of science-fiction television programs for the coming year; David Hirsch previews SF games and toys; Hirsch also examines "Shuttles in Space: A Visionary Concept in Fact and on Film"; and wrapping up the anniversary section is a reprint of Howard Zimmerman's poem "Return" from issue #41.

Steve Swires interviews John Carpenter about Escape from New York and gets some information on his forthcoming version of The Thing; Bill Cotter and Mike Clark interview Lost in Space actor Bill Mumy; Sam Maronie reveals the special effects work of John Stears; Alan Brennert, a former Buck Rogers story editor, relates some amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes from his time on the show; it's another four-page collection of anniversary greetings from science-fiction celebrities (including Arthur C. Clarke, Christopher Reeve, David Prowse, Douglas Trumbull, Mike Minor, Jesco von Puttkamer, the Brothers Hildebrandt, Harlan Ellison, and many more); Quest features a short story by W. Keith Brenton and space art by Gerhard Mros and Bruce Wildish; and Howard Zimmerman's Lastword thanks all kinds of people who've made Starlog's five years a success.

"I don't want to upset your readers too much, but it's just a movie. It's no big deal. From a technical point of view -- my own point of view -- I don't think it's altogether that well-made a movie, because I was working under extremely difficult conditions."

--George Lucas, writer/director/producer, interviewed by Kerry O'Quinn: "The George Lucas Saga: Chapter One: A New View"

To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.

The Starlog Project: Starlog #44, March 1981: Houston, We Have a Problem

Starlog releases its newest Starlog Record, First Men in the Moon. On the contributor front, former editor David Houston is still listed as a columnist, but his column has been replaced by associate editor David Hirsch's new In Syndication column.

Starlog #44
68 pages (including covers)
Cover price: $2.25

It's a real-space-heavy issue, a true NASA-lover's delight. Meanwhile, the various controversies take a low profile this issue, as the magazine gets down to its usual bring-us-the-news business.

Publisher Kerry O'Quinn's From the Bridge column is a collection of reader letters (including someone accusing O'Quinn's editorials of ruining Starlog) and his responses; Communications letters include reader reactions to Howard Zimmerman's criticism of Cosmos, feedback on the magazine's 3-D coverage, and more; short news items in Log Entries include information about the upcoming Dino De Laurentiis Conan movie, a Howard the Duck lawsuit, DC Comics' Green Lantern Corps mini-series, and more.

James H. Burns interviews Bob Balaban, star of Altered States; David Gerrold uses his Rumblings column to urge readers to actively support the U.S. space program; Alan Brender interviews Verna Fields, the studio executive behind The Incredible Shrinking Woman; Brender also pens a studio-by-studio roundup of science-fiction film and television productions that were affected by the 1980 actors strike; it's real-science time again, as Joseph Veverka steps into Jonathan Eberhart's sciency shoes and writes the first of a two-part feature on Voyager's trip to Saturn; Michael Smith previews the Disney Condorman movie; Suzanne Weyn profiles artist Walter Velez; Bjo Trimble's Fan Scene is the second blow of the one-two punch of Gerrold-Trimble this month, as she urges readers to write to politicians to get them to support space exploration; Bill Pearson and David Hirsch explore the miniature models used in the Flash Gordon movie; Ron Goulart goes "From Flash Gordon to Wash Tubbs" in part four of his "SF in the Comics" series; Alan Brender interviews Flash Gordon director Mike Hodges; David Hirsch's In Syndication column premieres, covering the syndicated world of genre programs; and Howard Zimmerman answers readers' criticisms of his negative take on Cosmos.

"The initial sequence saw Flash and Dale on Mongo being hunted as outlaws by the forces of Ming the Merciless, a price of 'a thousand gold mingols' on their heads. The first line Flash speaks sets the style for what is to follow for the next few years. As he pilots a rocketship, one-handed, toward a safer patch of territory, he says, with Dale perched on his lap, 'Alone at last!' Almost immediately, their ship explodes."

--Ron Goulart, writer, "SF in the Comics: Part IV: From Flash Gordon to Wash Tubbs"

To view previous Starlog issue descriptions, click on "Starlog Internet Archive Project" in the keywords below.

Cover Art: Ewan McGregor on Fantastic Man

I'm not generally a fan of some of the new magazines that look like they were designed by design-school seniors (i.e., ignoring what the industry has learned well over the past century or two), but this cover of Fantastic Man caught my eye. Its simplicity works well.

Um, Didn't We Just Have a Reboot of the Fantastic Four? And Now ... Again??

From Slice of Sci Fi comes this: The Fantastic Four movie series, which was recently reborn with what I thought were two successful movies in (very) recent years, is going to be "rebooted" with a new production.

Oh, wait, apparently Spiderman will, too.

And this isn't even part of the Disney-Marvel marriage party, which will eventually see the Marvel movies migrate to Disney. It's just Hollywood silliness.

The Latest White Sox Fire Sale -- Thome and Contreras

Remember White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf's infamous "fire sale" late one season in the 1990s earned him the (continued?) enmity of many fans who still thought the team had a chance in the race? Reinsdorf thought otherwise, and he pared down his salaries (which he himself had done so much to inflate) and settled for whatevertheheck the Sox could deliver that year.

Now comes news that the Sox, who dropped from second to third in the AL Central this week, have sent Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies in return for some shiny trinkets and firewater.

Actually, the Sox got something else. Reports the Chicago Tribune:

The Sox traded designated hitter Jim Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Class A infielder Justin Fuller, 26, and dealt pitcher Jose Contreras to the Colorado Rockies for Triple-A pitcher Brandon Hynick, 24, who threw a seven-inning perfect game on June 30 for Colorado Springs. The Sox sent cash to the Dodgers and Rockies in both deals.

As much as I agree that this is probably Fire Sale, Part II, I don't think the Sox were exactly surging to an upset finish at the end of this season. Besides, we won our World Series already this century. We can wait.

Improve the World with Cooler Postage Stamps

This has only tangential relationship to the magazine industry, which is the main focus of this blog. Nonetheless: I ordered some back issues of magazines from Germany, and they arrived wonderfully packaged and with some truly beautiful stamps on them. I'm not a stamp collector, but I thought these stamps were quite interesting, so I'm posting them here. Enjoy.