Cheap Truth
In the early-to-mid 1980s author Bruce Sterling, under the pseudonym “Vincent Omniaveritas”, pubbed a series of mostly single-sheet reviewzines titled Cheap Truth. (It often called itself a samizdat, after the typescripts dissidents circulated in Communist Eastern Europe, but that's just a highfalutin name for a fanzine.) In them, Sterling, Lewis Shiner (as "Sue Denim"), and probably other unidentified members of a loose-knit group of SF writers (calling themselves "the Movement" but soon dubbed cyberpunk) attacked what they considered the stagnant state of the period's popular science fiction, its awards (especially the Nebula), and hyped their own works. As such, the fanzine documents the development of the literary consciousness of the sub-genre's writers.
In the final issue's "interview", Omniveritas said how the zine has overgrown its usefulness and recommended to his readers: "I’m going to read Steve Brown’s SF Eye [… Brown] will have some good people working with him, including me if truth be told, though I’ll be cleaned up, wearing a shirt and tie, and using another name." Sterling went on to contribute a regular "Catscan" column; similarly did many other cyberpunkers.
David Langford published The Complete Cheap Truth as a 2019 ebook for free download from the TAFF website: "Subversive and fun, Cheap Truth was explicitly not copyrighted and so has been assembled into an Ansible Editions ebook without any tiresome formality about asking permission." As the download proved popular, in September 2022 he added a print-on-demand paperback, all proceeds to TAFF, with Sterling's permission: "I guess a 'book' wouldn't hurt anything, especially at this date, but the real deal always looked like it should have been stapled to a telephone pole."[1]
| Issue | Date | Pp | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1983 | 2 | "Quest for Decay" on "new and dangerous borderlands" of good fantasy with "Some Examples" of 4 recent books; "Cheap Truth Top Ten" of "new editions" including older titles |
| 2 | 1983 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1983 | 2 | |
| 4 | 1983 | 2 | |
| 5 | 1984 | 2 | |
| 6 | 1984 | 2 | p. 1 enthusiastic of Dozois's First Annual; p. 2 anonymous poem "SF: A Rhapsody. After Swift" (also in Paperback Inferno 50, Oct '84 as by A. Nonymous), identified by Langford as Brian Aldiss |
| 7 | 1984 | 2 | Datestamp OCT 6 1984 at top (might be just the copy's owner arrival date?). EDITORIAL declares "this special issue of Cheap Truth, with the first installment of a new review section, “Squirming Mags”". "State of the Field" minireviews of 8 SF magazines, praising F&SF and condemning Analog, and "The Tech-Head’s Workshop" of 6 pop-science ones. |
| 8 | 1984 | 2 | datestamp DEC 14 1984; "EDITORIAL. Call the Black Box at 300 baud, (512) 835-9742". Sue Denim praising Neuromancer and The Digging Leviathan, p. 2 "Clarke: A Social Study" |
| 9 | 1985 | 4 | datestamp JAN 7 1985 at end of p. 2; "Squirming Mags: Second Installment, Social and Political Issues". 2 extra pages are "Electronic Letter Column (512) UFO-SMOF", these dated 26 Jan ("RE CT 9", responding to an article in the issue! possibly due to earlier BBS distribution?) to 17 Feb |
| 10 | 1985 | 2 (+1) | Review of Soviet mainstream-SF novel; p.2 Denim about Nebulas to be "handed out on May 4". Extra page is (misfiled?) computer printout "BULLETIN: CHEAP TRUTH Goes Silicon!", announcing "SMOF-BBS" launched 26 Jan, signed "CHEAP TRUTH On-Line" |
| 11 | 1985 | 2 | no BBS; fictional Raymond Chandler interview opens "It was late March 1985, two years since our CHEAP TRUTH Lovecraft interview (see CT3)" |
| 12 | 1985 | 2 | p. 1 "Candace Berragus" critical of Neuromancer; p2 "CHEAP TRUTH hastens to laud" Blood Music. No BBS again |
| 13 | 1985 | 2 | |
| 14 | 1986 | 2 | |
| 15 | 1986 | 6 | "Hunilla de Cholo" on genre and Gibson in general, with added attack on the "humanists"; "Cheap Truth Top Ten … concentrates on the fractious antics of the sophomore class", i. e. recent cyberpunks' novels and IASFM. 4pp "Cheap Truth Letter Column" mostly from writers inc. "Orson Card"; from 3 Dec 85 to 22 May 86 (first response to CT15 on 16 May), ending with a xerox from 13 July UK newspaper |
| 16 | 1986 | 4 | "Special issue" "Cheap Truth London": "Phaedrus" arguing the need for “Science Fiction Writers of Great Britain”; p.2 "Cheap Truth Top Ten (with helpful quotes from locals)" on UK books. No address, clipping from 24 Sep Washington Post[2] with "cadres" overwritten as SFWA. 2 extra pp of "Pilgrimage to Node Zero by Seth L. Lapcart" (Charles Platt) taking issue with 1986 articles on cyberpunk |
| "The Last" | Nov 1986 | 2 | "The Last Cheap Truth"; the only dated issue – i. e. "(Austin, Texas, November 1986)" is the spoof editorial's dateline. Different, better font / typesetting / word processor |
| no number | (post- May 1985) | 2 | "Special Unnumbered Edition", big title "Sturgeon: Mercury Plus X" – tribute by Brian Aldiss; "Ted died early in May" without year specified, no other indication of origin. Full Austin address that was not given in #16 or #17, no BBS. Typescript but with more whitespace than ordinary issues |
- ↑ Langford Facebook post, September 6, 2022.
- ↑ Party Leader Says China To Extend Economic Reform
- Cheap Truth online at fanac.org (image scans, #14 as PDF).
- The Complete Cheap Truth at TAFF website – all standard eboook formats, 33,500 words.
- Print edition, 97 pages.
- Reblogged version by "Zombie Vincent Omniaveritas."
- Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
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| Publication | 1983—1986 |
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