Chills, issue 9

The penultimate issue of Chills (number 9) was published by the BFS in 1996, edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch. Cover price was £3.00/$6.00. Judging by the layout, I had invested in a better inkjet printer; at least the text (single column again) is much cleaner and clearer. Poetry once again was featured. The contents were:

“Better Late” (verse) by Chris Morgan
“The Terrible Lizards” by Rick Kleffel
“Noh Mask” by Anke Kriske
“The Bottom Line” by Ben Leech
“Plague Etiquette” (verse) by Brian Maycock
“Things in Boxes” by “M B”
“The Dark Hem” by D F Lewis
“The Sixth Magician” by Allen Ashley
“One Footfall” (verse) by Andrew Pye

The front cover was by Jim Pitts. Interior (spot) art came from Alan Casey, Frank Forte, Tony Hough and Martin McKenna. For the first time we were unable to include artwork illustrating specific stories.

Chills, issue 8

Chills 8, edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch, was published by the BFS in 1994. The cover price was £2.75/$6.00. For the first time, Chills included poetry. We also used a two-column design for the stories which, bearing in mind the small fonts we used (too small, I now reckon), made it easier to read. The contents were:

“The Outer Districts” (verse) by Joel Lane
“Save the Last Dance For Me” by Norman Partridge. Illustrated by Bob Covington
“The Parchment Recipes” by Raymond Nickford. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
“Pieces of Silence” by Joel Lane
“The Stone Dog” by Peter Bayliss
“The Lady Of Situations” by Conrad Williams. Illustrated by Steve Lines
“Getting Through” by Phoenix Hitch
“Snakebite” by Allen Ashley. Illustrated by Russ Nicholson
“Scaredy & Whitemouth” by D F Lewis

The front cover illustration was by Bob Covington. Additional artwork was by Dallas Goffin and Jim Pitts.

There was no Jim Pitts back cover illustration this time (and for the rest of the magazine’s run). Instead, we ran an ad for the BFS. In 1994 the cost of membership was a mere £15.00.

Chills, issue 7

Chills 7, edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch, was published by the BFS in 1993. The cover price was £2.50/$6.00. We had a bit of a coup with this issue: we included a Clive Barker story (which had originally appeared in the Guardian on 31 October 1992). This issue’s contents:

“A Date With the Hangman’s Daughter” by Tia Travis. Illustrated by Jim Pitts
“The Departed” by Clive Barker. Illustrated by Bob Covington
“Desktop Priapism With Your PCW” by Mike Chinn. Illustrated by Mike Chinn
“The Goalkeeper’s Fear Of the Crowd” by Nicholas Royle. Illustrated by Bob Covington.
“The Exhibit” by Martn Plumbridge. Illustrated by Steve Lines

The front cover was by Martin McKenna. The back cover (illustrating “The Shambler From the Stars”) was by Jim Pitts. Additional artwork came from Alan Hunter and Jim Pitts.

So then, can anyone under 30 remember the PCW? Compared with today’s PCs and laptops, it wasn’t much of an advancement on the electric typewriter. But at the time… Well, you had to be there.

Chills, issue 6

Issue 6 of Chills was published by the BFS in 1992, and again was edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch. The cover price was £2.00/$4.00. The magazine contained seven stories:

“The Big Ol’ Clown Lady” by Jeffrey Osier. Illustrated by Jeffrey Osier *
“Out Of the Storm” by Rick Kennett. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
“Junctions” by Conrad Williams. Illustrated by Martin McKenna
“Spiritual Radio” by Mark Rainey. Illustrated by Bob Covington
“Lost Child” by D F Lewis
“Shadows” by Richard Coady. Illustrated by Dave Carson
“The Pet Peeve” by Rick Kleffel. Illustrated by Jim Pitts

Note: *Jeffrey Osier’s story was originally published in Grue 11.

The cover was by Allen Koszowski; back cover (illustrating Robert Bloch’s “The Shadow From the Steeple”) was by Jim Pitts. Additional artwork came from Dallas Goffin, Allen Koszowski and Martin McKenna.

The magazine also featured a competition, sponsored by Grafton Books, to win copies of Shadows in the Watchgate by Mike Jefferies and a t-shirt designed by Jefferies. The question was: In which sporting event did Mike Jefferies represent Britain in 1980? In this day of the WWW, answering it is so much easier.

Shadows of Light and Dark by Jo Fletcher

Shadows of Light and Dark is a poetry collection by award-winning poet Jo Fletcher. The book was co-produced by the Alchemy Press and Airgedlamh Publications in 1998 in a limited edition of 250 copies (cover price £12.99), signed by Jo Fletcher, Neil Gaiman (introduction), Les Edwards (front cover artwork), Seamus A Ryan (back cover photograph) and Michael Marshall Smith (book designer). The book collects 32 poems, including reprints and originals. Copies of this book are still available via Oldhaven's Abe bookstore for the reduced price of £10.00.

Chills, issue 5

With issue five, the word "Winter" had been dropped from the title. And with this issue, Simon MacCulloch joined the editorial team. "Winter" was dropped because the magazine started to appear in the other seasons and hence was deemed inappropriate. Also, Chills is snappier (and the abbreviation no longer sounded like a London postcode).

Chills 5, edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch was published by the British Fantasy Society in 1991. The cover price was £1.80/$4.00. Eight stories appeared in this issue:

"Black Leather Kites" by Norman Partridge. Illustrated by Bob Covington
"Uncle E and Uncle T" by Roy Bayfield. Illustrated ny Nigel Pennington
"Twilight Shifts" by Phil Emery
"Out of His Mind" by Ken Cowley. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
"In the Arcade" by Lisa Tuttle. Illustrated by Bob Covington
"Come With Me" by Conrad Williams. Illustrated by Dallas Goffin
"My Giddy Aunt" by D F Lewis. Illustrated by Sylvia Starshine
"The Real Wolf" by Thomas Ligotti. Illustrated by Jim Pitts

The cover illustration was by Charles Dougherty and designed by Nigel Pennington (who also designed the logo). Additional artwork was by Alan Hunter and Nigel Pennington. The back cover illustration was for H P Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" by Jim Pitts.

Note: "In the Arcade" originally appeared in Amazing Science Fiction, 1978. "The Real Wolf" first appeared in Nocturne 1, 1988.

Winter Chills 4

Winter Chills 4, edited by Peter Coleborn and published by the British Fantasy Society, appeared in 1990. It was a slim affair -- just 36 pages. Cover price was £1.50/$3.00. The magazine included seven stories:



"Copyright Infringement" by David F Bischoff. Illustrated by Dallas Goffin
"Flossie Fraser" by D F Lewis
"The Boat of Sighs" by Allen Ashley. Illustrated by Allen Koszowski
"The Law of the Land" by Mark Hockley. Illustrated by Stephen Skwarek
"The Portrait" by Ian Hunter
"Silver" by Andrew S Jordan. Illustrated by Alan Hunter
"Approved to Scrap" by Rick Kennett. Illustrated by Jeff Salmon

The cover was by Martin McKenna, with additional artwork by Dallas Goffin and Martin McKenna.

Note: "Copyright Infringement" originally appeared in RAM (aka Micro Worlds) edited by Thomas F Monteleone in 1984, "Approved to Scrap" first appeared in The Cygnus Chronicle, volume 5, number 3, in 1983.

The Return of the Barbarians!

Swords Against the Millennium, edited by Mike Chinn, was co-published by the Alchemy Press and Saladorth Productions in 2000. The anthology demonstrates that heroic fantasy fits the short story format as well as novel length -- Mike Chinn and I were thinking of Robert E Howard, Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Moorcock... writers and stories of that ilk. To this end, Mike collected together eleven stories (including just two reprints):

"An Embarrassment of Champions" by Chris Morgan

"Manslayer" by Simon R Green *

"The Stages of the God" by Ramsey Campbell *

"The Seventh Sigil" by Cherith Baldry

"Dark Destroyer" by Adrian Cole

"The Taking" by Stan Nicholls

"Demon Slayer" by Pauline E Dungate

"Act of Sacrifice" by Paul Lewis

"To Catch a Thief" by Lisanne Norman

"Nyalis and the Cloud Raiders" by Anne Gay

"The Hunger of the Leaves" by Joel Lane

*reprints

The cover painting was by Bob Covington, with interior artwork by David Bezzina, Alan Hunter and Jim Pitts.

The Joel Lane story was selected for the year's best anthologies for horror (edited by Stephen Jones) and fantasy (edited by David G Hartwell).

The anthology was published in paperback (£9.95) and as a hardcover, signed and limited to 200 copies (£25.00). The limited edition is signed by all the writers, artists and the editor -- a fabulous book. However, you can still get new copies of this book for £8 and £20 respectively including UK postage (alchemypress@gmail.com) or via Oldhaven Book's Abe Store: just put in the title and away you go. Or click here to go directly to the title.

Where the Bodies Are Buried

Kim Newman's Where the Bodies Are Buried was co-published in 2000 by the Alchemy Press and Airgedlamh Publications.

ISBN 978-0-9532260-2-3

The book collects the four "Bodies" stories:

"Where the Bodies Are Buried"
"Where the Bodies Are Buried II: Sequel Hook"
"Where the Bodies Are Buried 3: Black and White and Red All Over"
"Where the Bodies Are Buried 2020"

The book is topped and tailed with an introduction by Peter Atkins and a Dramatis Personae, which nicely links this collection to many of Kim's other works. Sylvia Starshine painted the cover and Randy Broecker the interior artwork.

Where the Bodies Are Buried was published as a signed (by Kim Newman, Peter Atkins, Sylvia Starshine and Randy Broecker) hard cover with dust jacket, limited edition of 500 copies. The cover price was £17.50. New copies are still available from The Alchemy Press for £15.00 inc postage in the UK. Or via Oldhaven Books on Abe and Amazon.co.uk.


Where the Bodies Are Buried won the BFS Award for the Best Small Press!

Joel Lane said: "Meet Rob Hackwill, folk demon. A blackmailer killed by his victims, returning to expose what they are really made of. Or so the script goes. But then Hackwill slithers out of film into reality. Where the Bodies Are Buried is a heady brew of pulp horror, political satire and twisted technology. These four stories deconstruct the myths of the late twentieth centry -- with a hatchet. Prepare to laugh. Prepare to shudder. Prepare to find out Where the Bodies Are Buried."