Relapse
Entry updated 21 August 2023. Tagged: Fan, Publication.
UK Fanzine edited by Peter Weston. Two issues 1983 as Prolapse, A4 duplicated; the more important incarnation is the second series, 2006-2013, A4 photocopied to #4, litho-printed from #5, typically 36-44pp. 21 issues 1983-2013.
The focus was on byways of the history of Fandom and Conventions, almost exclusively in the UK; many old photographs of fans and authors were reproduced. Some archive material by Kenneth Bulmer and others was reprinted from now-rare fanzines; one example is the script of "The Wizard of Ozimov" in Prolapse #5 (February 2007), a collaborative fannish skit on L Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900; vt The New Wizard of Oz 1903), written by James Blish, Robert Holdstock, Andrew Stephenson and others, and performed at the 1974 Eastercon by a cast including all the above, Blish taking the title role and Anne McCaffrey playing the wicked witch. A candid memoir by John Hall of early-1970s life in John Brunner's household (June 2007 #7) generated considerable response. Further contributors of fan reminiscences and/or historical researches in article or letter form include Brian Aldiss, Mike Ashley, John Baxter, Malcolm Edwards, Rob Hansen (whom see), Philip Harbottle, George Locke, Dan Morgan, Michael Moorcock and Christopher Priest.
This fanzine won the UK Nova Award as best fanzine in 2007 and 2008. The title change from Prolapse to Relapse was (as with Weston's earlier retitling of Zenith/Speculation) not instantaneous: #13 (February 2009), carried the new title overlaid on the old and #14 (May 2009), was simply Relapse. Health problems led to the sequence being put on indefinite hold after issue #21 (Spring 2013). [DRL]
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