Xeron

Xeron was a science fiction and fantasy fanzine by Mike Ashley and John Quattromini.

The first issue appeared in October 1965 from Kent, England, UK. Seven issues were published through the APA "PaDS".

Issue 1 featured cover art by Dave Baldock. Articles were by Richard Gordon, and Jack Newman. Prose was by Terry Jeeves (ERG), and Chris Villars. Short stories were by Bill Aitken, and W. T. Webb. Poetry was by Graham Hall. The first part of the serial "Punishment' was by Mike Ashley. Included was an SF bibliography by Mike Ashley.

Issue 3, from May, 1966, featured cover artwork by Phil Harbottle. Articles were by Don Malcolm. Short stories were by Bill Aitken, and Dave Wood (Brennschluss). Poetry was by Graham Hall. The third part of "Punishment" was by Kay Stirling. Comic strips were by Graham Hall with Terry Jeeves.

Issue 5 featured the short story "The Vines' by Brian Craig.

Issue 7, from December, 1967, featured cover art work by Brian Frost. Articles were by Mike Ashley, and Stan Nicholls (Gothique). Short stories were by John F. Aldridge, Bryn Fortey, Brian Stableford, and Kay Stirling. Serials were by Adrian Cook. Also included was a "Swords and Sorcery Checklist" bibliography by Mike Ashley.

Rob Hansen, in his history of fandom called "Then", writes of Xeron: XERON 1 (Oct'65), was the first fanzine from John Quattromini and Mike Ashley, two young fans who lived next door to each other at Sittingbourne in Kent. XERON had the same mix of material as contemporary zines but was somewhat different in that it also had a strong bibliographic element, reflecting Ashley's interests in this area. XERON was distributed via PADS from its second issue and would see seven issues in all, the last one dated December 1967. This was not Ashley's first experience with fanzines, however. He had earlier co-edited FUSION with Jim Grant, which saw four issues between January 1965 and February 1966. FUSION, too, had contained Ashley's SF lists."