History of SF Fanzines in New Zealand

Early Beginnings

Science Fiction readers in New Zealand had been active and writing letters to SF pulps overseas as far back as 1929, but it took a while for some of these fans to connect locally, and even longer for clubs or fanzines to appear. Established SF fandom in NZ started either in June 1931 with The Universal issue 6, or 1935 with the (NZ) Science Fiction Bulletin. It’s almost impossible to date this more precisely, as few records exist of these nascent activities.

The Universal was a school boy type magazine, filling an entire school exercise book, with action-packed stories, jokes, an editorial and breathless prose about what was in store in future issues. Each single issue was actively shared and read amongst a core group of around 20 teenagers. After a dozen issues, The Arrow replaced The Universal and was published each month throughout 1932 and 1933.

The editor of the Universal and The Arrow was Cavell Nichol, and while they weren’t fanzines in the traditional sense, they had a core following, and featured some brilliant and very competent artwork. Twenty years later Cav contributed letters and other items to contemporary fifties fanzines and was also still successfully contributing children’s stories to local newspapers into the 1970s.

Until the (NZ) Science Fiction Bulletin was published in February 1935, only 26 other fanzine titles had been published elsewhere (just in the USA.) In 1952 prominent fan Walt Willis recognized (NZ) Science Fiction Bulletin as being the first fanzine to be published outside of the USA. A feat not matched in nearby Australia for at least another four years (1939.)

So by all practical measures NZ Fandom had its 85th anniversary in 2020.

Throughout those 85 years, a wide variety of SF fanzines have been produced, and a virtual display at CoNZealand in 2020 highlighted some of them, including examples of covers and artwork from The Universal and The Arrow.

Probably the most infamous NZ zine is a oneshot from November 1958, The Last Splotch. New Zealand’s first fannish couple, Toni Vondruska and Lynette Mills celebrated their wedding night in probably the most fannish way possible, they completed a page of their zine published to celebrate their wedding. As Lynette herself typed at 10:45pm This is slightly embarrassing, i mean look at the time please. We must be the most dedicated Fenn ever … (sic.)

While no surviving copies of the two mimeographed issues of the (NZ) Science Fiction Bulletin have surfaced, at least one copy was sent overseas to England where it was received with wonderment by the editors of Novae Terrae, who were basking in the pride of having just published in early 1936 the first non-American fanzine!

Despite much promotion through published letters in both Amazing Stories and Wonder Stories in early 1935 and grand plans for creating a Z Science Fiction Association, nothing eventually came of it. And other details of the two responsible editors, Noel Jenkin and Norman S. Patton have been elusive. An ad placed in the NZ Herald newspaper in early 1935 elicited interested persons toadvance science fiction and CAN MAN FLY TO THE MOON?

Years later, the primary editor, Noel Jenkin was selected as one of the first NZ Fulbright scholars to the U.S, and subsequently had a successful academic publishing career as a psychologist. But sadly, did not publish any more fanzines.

References

Timeless Sands — a History of Science Fiction Fandom in New Zealand, Martian Way Press 1983, by Nigel Rowe, is a detailed bibliographical record of fanzines published in New Zealand. Containing a subject index of content within those fanzines.

The History of Science Fiction Fandom in ... New Zealand ...., by Nigel Rowe, 1981, is an initial written attempt of a fanhistory of NZ fandom.