Banana Wings
Banana Wings is a British fanzine edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer since November 1995.
In November 1995 Mark produced Banana Skins, and Claire Waxen Wings after which the editors decided to merge the titles. This puts Banana Wings in the unusual position of having either no first issue (in common with Ploy and Fouler) or two. The editors tend to view these fanzines as Banana Wings #1.
The next two issues used the composite title Waxen Wings and Banana Skins before the final title Banana Wings emerged in November 1996.
The two #1s were both photocopied. From #2 onwards copies were A4 duplicated (duplication by Maureen Speller), switching to A4 photocopied from #14 (August 1999) and then A5 photocopied from #35 (August 2008). Prior to #50 (August 2012) copies were only available in print, Subsequently they were additionally available in various electronic formats.
It won the Nova Award for Best Fanzine in 1996-1998, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2013 and the FAAn Award for Best Fanzine in 2007, 2010, and 2013--2015, 2017, 2019. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Fanzine eight times in 2005—2007 and 2009--2013. The cover of #56 by D. West also won the FAAn Award for Best Cover in 2015.
Frequent contributors include James Bacon, Cardinal Cox, Tony Keen, Paul Kincaid, Caroline Mullan, Greg Pickersgill, David Redd, Fred Smith and Taral Wayne.
Most frequently appearing cover artists are Atom, Brad Foster, Steve Stiles, Harry Turner and D. West.
Most prolific lettercolumn contributors are Brad Foster, Steve Jeffery, Jerry Kaufman, Robert Lichtman, Lloyd Penney, John Purcell, David Redd, Fred Smith and Milt Stevens.
| Issue | Date | Pages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 1995 | 20 | Banana Skins (by Mark, A4, photocopied); no cover art |
| 1 | November 1995 | 20 | Waxen Wings (by Claire, A5, photocopied); cover by Ian Gunn |
| 2 | April 1996 | 52 | cover by Anne Stokes; issued under the title Waxen Wings and Banana Skins; |
| 3 | July 1996 | 64 | Cover by Sue Mason; issued under the title Waxen Wings and Banana Skins; the first issue to feature an outside article contribution, a fanzine review column by Paul Kincaid |
| 4 | November 1996 | 58 | Cover features the covers of the fourth issues of Nebula and New Worlds; first issue under Banana Wings title |
| 5 | February 1997 | 60 | Cover is photo of the cast of Friends underlining the subtitle of ‘Four Friends and a Relation’; this issue largely written by outside contributors |
| 6 | Easter 1997 | 66 | Cover by Harry Turner |
| 7 | September 1997 | 64 | Cover by Harry Turner |
| 8 | November 1997 | 56 | Cover by Steve Jeffery |
| 9 | March 1998 | 56 | Cover by Brad Foster |
| 10 | April 1998 | 34 | Cover by Harry Turner; contains reprint material concerning previous Eastercons in Manchester |
| 11 | August 1998 | 68 | Cover by Dave Mooring |
| 12 | November 1998 | 70 | Cover by Sue Mason |
| 13 | Easter 1999 | 64 | Cover is clipart; the last issued to be duplicated |
| 14 | August 1999 | 58 | Cover by Colin Odell (most are mono but a few have tipped-in colour art); includes a facsimile reprint of Vin¢ Clarke’s two-page Launching Site from OMPA #1 |
| 15 | April 2000 | 54 | cover by Sue Mason; a trip report for Aussiecon 3 |
| 16 | September 2000 | 58 | Cover by Steve Stiles; including the first part of Fred Smith’s Once There was a Magazine… |
| 17 | May 2002 | 52 | Cover by Dave Hicks; including the second part of Fred Smith’s Once There was a Magazine… |
| 18 | October 2002 | 48 | Cover collage of clipart; includes Andy Sawyer’s academic paper on The Enchanted Duplicator |
| 19 | March 2004 | 20 | Cover is clipart; includes an advance chapter of Peter Weston’s With Stars in My Eyes |
| 20 | November 2004 | 36 | Cover by Brad Foster |
| 21 | February 2005 | 28 | |
| 22 | May 2005 | 32 | |
| 23 | August 2005 | 36 | |
| 24 | November 2005 | 40 | |
| 25 | February 2006 | 36 | |
| 26 | May 2006 | 36 | |
| 27 | Aug 2006 | 32 | |
| 28 | Nov 2006 | 32 | |
| 29 | Feb 2007 | 36 | |
| 30 | May 2007 | 36 | |
| 31 | Aug 2007 | 32 | |
| 32 | Nov 2007 | 32 | |
| 33 | Feb 2008 | 32 | |
| 34 | May 2008 | 36 | |
| 35 | Aug 2008 | 50 | |
| 36 | Nov 2008 | 56 | |
| 37 | Mar 2009 | 48 | |
| 38 | May 2009 | 60 | |
| 39 | Aug 2009 | 56 | |
| 40 | Nov 2009 | 60 | |
| 41 | Mar 2010 | 56 | |
| 42 | May 2010 | 60 | |
| 43 | Aug 2010 | 52 | |
| 44 | Nov 2010 | 56 | |
| 45 | Feb 2011 | 58 | |
| 46 | Jun 2011 | 58 | |
| 47 | Sep 2011 | 56 | Cover by Colin Odell |
| 48 | Dec 2011 | 56 | Cover by D. West |
| 49 | Apr 2012 | 56 | |
| 50 | Aug 2012 | 56 | Cover by Dan Steffan |
| 51 | Nov 2012 | 60 | |
| 52 | Apr 2013 | 60 | Cover by Steve Stiles |
| 53 | Aug 2013 | 60 | |
| 54 | Dec 2013 | 60 | |
| 55 | Mar 2014 | 56 | |
| 56 | Aug 2014 | 60 | Cover by D. West won FAAn Award for Best Cover in 2015. |
| 57 | November 2014 | 56 | |
| 58 | March 2015 | 52 | |
| 59 | August 2015 | 56 | Cover by D. West; includes Caroline Mullan’s guest-of-honour talk from Eastercon 2015 |
| 60 | November 2015 | 56 | Cover by Steve Stiles |
| 61 | March 2016 | 60 | Cover by Ivor Latto |
| 62 | May 2016 | 60 | Cover by Brad Foster |
| 63 | August 2016 | 60 | Cover by Ivor Latto |
| 64 | November 2016 | 60 | Cover by Steve Stiles |
| 65 | March 2017 | 60 | Cover by Atom |
| 66 | June 2017 | 60 | Cover by Steve Stiles |
| 67 | September 2017 | 60 | Cover by Rob Hansen |
| 68 | November 2017 | 60 | Cover by Atom |
| 69 | February 2018 | 60 | Cover by D. West |
| 70 | April 2018 | 60 | Cover by Atom |
| Publication | 1995— |
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