Rosemary Pardoe
Rosemary Pardoe is a writer and zine editor from the UK.
Rosemary Pardoe's first fanzine experience came when Ken Cheslin and Dave Hale handed their fanzine Les Spinge over to Darroll Pardoe and Rosemary Pardoe to edit in 1965. Les Spinge was published in the UK, with the first issue appearing in September 1959. The first six issues had been released by Ken Cheslin. Dave Hale assumed editorship with issue 7 with Ken Cheslin as publisher, and released 7 more issues: 36 issues were published in total, with the final issue appearing in December 1979.
As well, in the late 1960s, Rosemary began publishing her own title, Seagull, through the Offtrails Magazine Publishers Association, and collaborated on Pablo with Darroll Pardoe, also for OMPA.
In the 1970s, Rosemary Pardoe had co-founded the British Fantasy Society and was in charge of the Fanzine Library. Wark developed out of the Fanzine Library's newsletter, and specialized in reviewing fantasy, horror, and supernatural small press publications, also occasionally covering comic zines and fringe and Fortean publications, articles by science fiction writers, and fanzine publishers. The first issue of Wark was published in the UK in October 1974. Rosemary Pardoe published 14 issues, with Wark continuing to appear till the end of the 1970s. The Wark Annual appeared in 1980.
Ghosts & Scholars followed Wark, with the first issue appearing in 1979. 33 issues were released, the last in 2001. It was a literary zine devoted to horror and supernatural literature and featured essays, articles, fiction, art work, and letters of comment.
In 2002 it was succeeded by The Ghosts & Scholars M.R. James Newsletter, which is similar in content but does not usually include new fiction.
Rsemary Pardoe also writes short fiction, usually in the supernatural genre, using the pen name "Mary Ann Allen", and has also written many essays under her own name. She has co-authored two non-fiction books, and published a number of anthologies.
In her introduction to the anthology The Best of Ghosts & Scholars, Rosemary Pardoe writes, "I produced my first fanzine at the age of seventeen, which means I've been publishing small press booklets almost continuously now for half my life. It seems such a normal part of life to me that it sometimes comes as a surprise when other people make it clear that they think it's rather an unusual way to pass the time."
Zines
Contributions
Books
- The Female Pope, with Darroll Pardoe, 1988
- Warnings to the Curious: A Sheaf of Criticism on M.R. James, with S.T. Joshi, 2007
