Paperback Parlour
A bimonthly fanzine of the BSFA devoted to reviews of British paperback books, launched in February 1977 as Paperback Parlour. From issue #19 (April 1980) the title was changed to Paperback Inferno, since #66 (June/July 1987) with the subtitle The Review of paperback SF on the cover. After issue #97 (actually 93rd, see below) in summer 1992 it was incorporated into the quarterly Vector. It had ISSN 0260-0595.
Especially in its first years, much of the contents (brief reviews of everything not covered in more detail by someone else) was written by the editor. Joseph Nicholas was editor of issues #15 through #54, titling his editorials/column "Blood on the Racks" for most of his run and "Wasn't Born to Follow" in the final issues; see also his brief (600 words) "A Memoir of the Paperback Inferno" in Vector #200 page 7 (1998; supposedly also in the earlier #150, 1989, but can't be found there). From #55 Andy Sawyer took over, whose editorial was usually "Paperback Purgatory".
The confusion in numbering Volume/Nr was caused by the Paperback Parlour skipping the June 1979 issue and starting the Volume 3 again afterwards. Then in summer 1983, Inferno numbering somehow jumped forward by four issues (details are unclear, and contradictory in various sources), necessitating differentiation like "#44, Volume 7, No 2, 40th issue" in the BSFA bibliography (only the main number was given on the cover/copyright section/colophon), and there seem to be further errors around numbering #47 in the first half of 1984, after which volumes were abandoned and numbering brought in line started with the new #44 sequence (so multiples of 6 were reached in June).
Issue | Date | Pages | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
V1.1 | February 1977 | 8 | edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne |
V1.2 | April 1977 | 10 | |
V1.4 | August 1977 | 8 | |
V2.5 #11 | October 1978 | 8 | |
V2.6 #12 | December 1978 | 24 | |
V3.1 #13 | February 1979 | 6 | |
V3.2 #14 | April 1979 | 6 | last issue by Stephensen-Payne |
V3.1 again #15 | August 1979 | 10 | after skipping June, edited by Joseph Nicholas and misnumbered (within volume) |
V3.2 again #16 | October 1979 | 12 | misnumbered |
V3.3 #17 | December 1979 | 10 | |
V3.4 #18 | February 1980 | 8 | last issue as Paperback Parlour |
V3.5 #19 | April 1980 | 10 | now named Paperback Inferno |
V3.6 #20 | June 1980 | 12 | |
V4.1 #21 | August 1980 | 12 | |
V4.2 #22 | October 1980 | 12 | |
V4.3 #23 | December 1980 | 12 | |
V4.4 #24 | February 1981 | 12 | |
V4.5 | 12 | ||
V4.6 | 12 | ||
V5.1 | 12 | ||
V5.2 | 14 | ||
V5.3 #29 | Dcember 1981 | 12 | |
V5.4 | 1982 | 12 | |
V5.5 | 1982 | 14 | |
V5.6 | 1982 | 14 | |
V6.1 #33 | August 1982 | 14 | |
V6.3 #35 | December 1982 | 16 | |
V6.4 #36 | February 1983 | 14 | |
V6.5 #37 | April 1983 | 14 | |
V6.6(?) #38 | June 1983 | 14 | ISFDB notes misnumbering 'Actually states "Vol 6 No 4"' |
V7.1 #39(?) | August 1983 | 16 | ISFDB says the four numbers were skipped already by now: "Unusually, this issue has a date on it. States 'Volume 7, No 1, Whole Number 43, August 1983'". |
V7.2 #44 | October 1983 | 16 | #44, Volume 7, No 2, 40th issue |
V7.3 #45 | December 1983 | 16 | #45, Volume 7, No 3, 41st issue |
V7.4 #47(?) | February 1984 | 16 | listed as skipped further "#47, Volume 7, No 4, 42nd issue" but #46 in table overview, one must be a typo. ISFDB has "Whole number 46" |
V7.5 #47 | April 1984 | 16 | repeats(? to get back to "proper") #47; Volume 7, No 5, 43rd issue |
V7.6 #47 | June 1984 | 16 | repeats again likely by mistake: #47, Volume 7, No 6, 44th issue. However "Whole number 48" in ISFDB |
49 | August 1984 | 16 | "#49, 45th issue" only, abandoning volumes. Skipping over 48 would make sense to straighten the sequence 44–49 retroactively |
54 | June 1985 | 16 | last Nicholas issue, editorial "Welcome to the Pleasure Dome" already by Andy Sawyer. BSFA's listing odd 15 pages clearly a typo |
57 | December 1985 | 16 | |
58 | February 1986 | 16 | |
60 | June 1986 | 16 | |
61 | August 1986 | 16 | |
62 | Oct./Nov. 1986 | 16 | 58th issue; started listing dates bi-monthly as before, even month and the following odd. Slash and abbrevs used in the copyright detail, final issues with graphical cover and masthead switched to dash there but not consistently |
63 | Dec./Jan 1986/7 | 16 | note the format of straddling the New Year as per cover scan; differs on BSFA site |
66 | June/July 1987 | 16 | added subtitle The Review of paperback SF (note lowercase p) on the cover, and "A British Science Fiction Association magazine" at the bottom |
68 | October/November 1987 | 16 | |
81 | Dec 1989 – Jan 1990 | 16 | again date per cover |
96 | June – July 1992 | 16 | |
97 | August – September 1992 | 16 | final – #97, 93rd issue |
The semi-official BSFA bibliographic website (split to Parlour and Inferno) linked below and used in the table above as primary source only lists authors and titles but does not have the full content. The Paperback Inferno entry at ISFDB (which also shows covers from #62 on) differs significantly in some (mis)numbering details.
Publication | Website Website | 1977—1992 |
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