Phantasmagoria
Vol. 2, No. 1 Spring 1952
Cover art by Alan Hunter
Phantasmagoria was a science fiction and fantasy fanzine by Derek (1928-2008) and Mavis Pickles.
Phantasmagoria was published in Bradford, Yorkshire, England. The first issue was published in November 1950. The next issue appeared in Spring 1951 with #3 following in the Summer. After the success of their fanzine, Mavis and Derek decided to put on NECON, the North-East Science Fiction Convention, held in Bradford on October 14th, 1951. Issue 4 was released in Spring 1952, and #5 in Autumn of the same year. Issue 6 came in June 1953, #7 in June, and #8 in November 1954, June of 1955 saw #9, and November #10, with the last issue appearing in 1956. Stan Thomas was co-editor of issues 9 and 10.
Mavis and her brother Derek both attended the 1951 Internation Science-Fiction Festival Convention (Festivention) in London and put out a special issue of their fanzine, Phantasmagoria Vol. 1 No. 3, devoted to the goings-on there. It contained convention reports by Walt Willis (Slant), Derek Pickles, and Bob Shaw, including illustrations by Bob Shaw.
Derek Pickles, in Then by Rob Hansen, recalls what happened next; "Phantasmagoria was revived (I'd already published a 'Final Issue'), really, as a one-off after Stan and I attended the "Supermancon" (1954). We were only there the Sunday afternoon and evening, but Stan wrote a po-faced con report -- it was the first and only con he ever attended. The response was amazing: MalAsh, Dave Wood, Ken Potter, and the other Junior Fanatics, and like-minded wrote screaming letters full of utter disbelief that anyone could be so antedeluvian, out-of-touch, heads-in-the-sand, etc. This response stimulated us to publish three more new series Phts, developing the stick-men cartoons and, in our first ish, 'the usual' terms for receiving a fanzine."
The Phantasmagoria of June 1954 was the issue where the idea of "the usual" -- whether it be in the form of a contribution, letter of comment, or a fanzine in trade -- was given in preference to money as the price of receiving a fanzine.
Contributors of art work to other issues included Alan Hunter, and Harry Turner (Zenith).
Contributors of writing to other issues included John Brunner, his first appearance in print, and H.J. Campbell, Alan Hunter, Clive Jackson, E.R. James, Nigel Lindsay, Jim Linwood (Typo), Ken Slater (Vector), and the regular column by Walt Willis called "The Outpost".
Contributions of poetry came from John Brunner, and Pete Ridley.
Letters came from Mal Ashworth (Rot), Ken Potter (Brennschluss), and Dave Wood (Brennschluss).
