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.

More Chills...

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

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. In 1994 the cost of BFS membership was now £15.00.


This post is revised from that which was first published on the Alchemy Press website.

Winter Chills becomes Chills

With issue five the word "Winter" had been dropped from the title. And, more importantly, Simon MacCulloch joined me on the editorial team. We dropped "Winter" because the magazine started to appear in the other seasons and hence was deemed inappropriate. Also, Chills was / still is a snappier title (and the abbreviation no longer sounded like a London postcode or for the rest room).

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 by 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. "In the Arcade" originally appeared in Amazing Science Fiction (1978). "The Real Wolf" first appeared in Nocturne 1 (1988).

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

The cover was by Allen Koszowski and the 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. Jeffrey Osier’s story was originally published in Grue 11.

We featured a competition this issue, 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 these days of the Internet, I suspect answering it is so much easier than back then.


Once again, a version of this originally appeared on the Alchemy Press website.