Science-Fiction Collector, The
Entry updated 30 September 2012. Tagged: Fan, Publication.
Canadian bibliographical Amateur Magazine (1976-1981), published by James Grant Books, Calgary, to #3, then by Pandora's Books Ltd; edited by J Grant Thiessen. With #9 (June 1980) the journal merged with the fanzine Age of the Unicorn, and was renamed Megavore: The Journal of Popular Fiction, but the title reverted to The Science Fiction Collector (sans hyphen) from issue #14 (30 May 1981). The two final issues, #15 (31 July 1981), which claimed a circulation of 11,000, and #15½ (30 November 1981), which was simply a catalogue, were in tabloid format.
Thiessen, a book dealer with a bibliographical bent, published a good deal of extremely useful research – which quite often cannot be found duplicated elsewhere – on sf Publishing, frequently in the more obscure and sometimes less reputable areas of paperback-book and magazine publishing, with features on Ace Books (#1), defunct paperback lines (#2), sf pornography (#4), Philip José Farmer (#5), Ballantine Books (#6), E C Tubb (#7), A E van Vogt (#8), and Avram Davidson (#9). The change of title broadened the magazine's coverage to all aspects of popular genre fiction, but still included sf features: Lancer Books (#10), James H Schmitz (#12) and Jack Williamson (#13), amongst much more bibliographic data. [MA/PN]
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