Chills: the end of an era

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. By this time I had invested in a better inkjet printer; at least the text (single column again) is much cleaner and clearer. Poetry was once again 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. Additional artwork came from Alan Casey, Frank Forte, Tony Hough and Martin McKenna, but for the first time we were unable to include artwork illustrating specific stories.

The final Chills, issue 10, once more edited by Peter Coleborn and Simon MacCulloch, was published by the BFS in 1996 (£3.00 / $6.00). The cover illustration by Russell Morgan depicted a bearded gent reading a tome of some dubious ancient lore. Some people assumed it was a picture of your equally bearded editor; I assure you it’s not – besides, gent’s nose is too large.

Again, sadly, we had no artwork illustrating specific stories. In fact, artwork is only represented by the fabulous cover and one spot piece by Martin McKenna. The contents were:

“How the Buckie Was Saved” by David Sutton
“A Musical Calling” by Raymond Nickford
“Beal’s Scrapyard” by Peter Bayliss
“A Cry For Help” by Martin Plumbridge
“Carousel” by Debbie Bennett
“Someone Else’s Problem” by Michael Marshall Smith
“The Lady With Little Friends in Her Hair” (verse) by Mark McLaughlin

So why did Chills end with its tenth issue? Ten issues covered a decade, more-or-less, and I felt that it was time to give the magazine a rest, and pursue some other activities. In the end I joined the editorial team on the BFS’s elder journal Dark Horizons. More on this in a later post.

Very quickly BFS and other UK small presses were upping the ante as far as production values were concerned – all down to access to home computers and DTP programs. In comparison, Chills looked a little quaint. But the magazine, along with others of that era, was part of the evolutionary process. I look back on it with fond memories.

At this time BFS membership was still a mere £15.00 a year. FantasyCon XX was scheduled for 4-6 October 1996, at the International Hotel in London. The Guests of Honour were Christopher Fowler and Tom Holt, with Kim Newman acting as the Master of Ceremonies. The convention’s organisers included yours truly. FCXX was the trial run for the following year’s World Fantasy Convention. The 1997 WFC took place in the same Dockland’s hotel, over the weekend 30 October-2 November. This was the second time this event was held in London.

Originally published on the Alchemy Press blog -- revised for this post.