All My Yesterdays

Today was a ‘P’ day – Pete met Miss P, and they had pizza and went to see Pirates, but we’ll talk about that some other time.

At the weekend, on a whim, I decided to count up how many published reviews I’d done, expecting something in the region of 5-600 only to find that the actual figure was 811. At the current rate I’ll reach a thousand some time in 2013.

Here’s how it breaks down, with a few comments:-

Dream Magazine – 7

This was the first magazine I ever wrote a review for. I used to send in detailed letters of comment and when editor Trevor Jones decided to run reviews he asked me if I’d like to contribute. It was in 1990 I think, or about then. I also did a few for the other magazine Trevor published, New Moon. I was a lot more PC back then – in my letters of comment I took one writer to task for his portrayal of gay characters and slapped another’s wrist for his use of the ‘c’ word. I believe Trevor Jones died, and both magazines ceased publication.

New Moon – 5

Vector – 4

I used to belong to the BSFA and a lot of other organisations that I don’t belong to now. When I pointed out that they never reviewed any magazines except the usual suspects (F& SF, Analog etc) somebody suggested that I write some for them (it might have been Maureen Speller), and so I did a column highlighting four of the UK’s then finest and least known.

Zene – 79

The predecessor to The Fix, and called Zine for a couple of issues I seem to remember. Andy asked me if I’d like to contribute and I said yes. For the first issue I wrote all of the fiction magazine reviews, using publications that I’d bought as nobody had sent us any review copies. I clustered them together under the umbrella title “In the Shadow of the Cathedral”. Pretty soon a lot of other people got involved, and that title fell by the wayside.

Dreams from the Strangers’ Cafe – 5

Maelstrom – 6

I bought a sample copy of this magazine’s first issue and seriously disliked it, setting out my reasons in a letter of comment. Editor Malcolm Wright published my letter and sent me a complimentary copy of the next issue, and I didn’t like that much either, so again I wrote him a letter of comment and he… We went on like this for several issues, and eventually Malcolm asked if I’d like to review for him. He even paid me.

Black Tears – 1

The only publication I can recall asking if I’d send the book back once I’d reviewed it.

The Zone – 1

Unreal Dreams – 1

A review of the D. F. Lewis novella Agra Aska, which was being published by the editor of UD, and they wanted someone independent to review it. They got me.

Zest – 2

The magazine Ian Redman published before Jupiter. I think I reviewed a couple of Lucius Shepard books for it.

Sol – 1

Also published by Malcolm Wright. He thought that a review I’d done of a Peter Ackroyd novel would be more at home in Maelstrom‘s more literary older sister.

Touchpaper – 1

A news sheet style zine published by Tony Lee’s Pigasus Press back in the day. I reviewed a book rather intriguingly titled A Good Cuntboy is Hard to Find. Yes, well. I believe I liked it.

The Third Alternative – 209

I started as one of a team of reviewers, but for the last few issues was the only reviewer, something that has carried on with TTA’s successor, Black Static. Back then I used to review all sorts of stuff – horror, sf, fantasy, crime, mainstream – in line with the magazine’s eclectic approach to fiction.

The Fix – 48

The successor to Zene, and eventually it became a website (now mothballed). I only reviewed for the print zine. By the time the website came around I was up to my eyeballs in other stuff.

The Dream Zone – 7

The only time I’ve had two different reviews of the same title appear in a magazine. I did a ‘method’ review, where I tried to ape the style of the writer, but wasn’t sure if the editor would like this, and so I also sent in a standard review. Editor Paul Bradshaw published them both. I’ve done several ‘method’ reviews since, most of them for the Whispers of Wickedness website, and the only formal film review I’ve ever written was also done using ‘method’ – basically it was a get out of gaol free card, in that by aping David Lynch I could avoid admitting I didn’t have the faintest idea what a DVD of his early work was about.

Whispers of Wickedness – 35

I ran the review team for Mistress D’s website. Most of my reviews were done when we couldn’t find another reviewer to take something on. And, along with Djibril Alayad, I also wrote a website review column, Web Whisperin. Nearly all of the Whispers reviews are archived at The Future Fire. I also commented on every story that appeared on the site and in the magazine.

Crime Time – 1

Laura Hird’s website – 2

Interzone – 3

Waterstones website – 2

T3A website – 51

During the hiatus between the last issue of The Third Alternative and the first issue of Black Static, review copies kept coming in, and I posted some reviews to the old T3A website. I also kept my hand in by snagging a couple of review freebies from Waterstones.

Black Static – 336

Up to and including issue #23, which is currently at the printers.

TTA Press website – 4

And occasionally, very occasionally, reviews don’t get used in the magazine, so I post them to the website.

Okay, that’s all folks!