Banana Wings

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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 they decided to merge the titles. This puts Banana Wings in the unusual position of having no first issue as such (in common with Ploy and Fouler); however the editors tend to view both these fanzines (together) as Banana Wings #1.

The next two issues used the composite title Waxen Wings and Banana Skins before the final title Banana Wings (#4) emerged in November 1996.

The two #1s were both photocopied. From #2 onwards copies were A4 duplicated (by Maureen Kincaid 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 also in various electronic formats, but intentionally not on the web.

Banana Wings 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; again as Waxen Wings and Banana Skins; first issue with outside 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’; 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 duplicated issue
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; includes the first part of Fred Smith’s Once There was a Magazine…
17 May 2002 52 Cover by Dave Hicks; includes the second part of 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 Cover by Atom
50 Aug 2012 56 Cover by Dan Steffan
51 Nov 2012 60 Cover by D. West
52 Apr 2013 60 Cover by Steve Stiles
53 Aug 2013 60 Cover by D. West
54 Dec 2013 60 Cover by Brad Foster
55 Mar 2014 56
56 Aug 2014 60 Cover by D. West won FAAn Award for Best Cover in 2015.
57 November 2014 56 Cover by Steve Stiles
58 March 2015 52 Cover by Ivor Latto
59 August 2015 56 Cover by D. West; includes Caroline Mullan’s GoH 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
71 September 2018 60 Cover by Steve Stiles
72 November 2018 60 Cover by Ian Gunn
73 April 2019 64 Cover by Steve Stiles
74 July 2019 60 Cover by Atom
75 November 2019 56 Cover by Ulrika O'Brien
76 February 2020 60 Cover by Atom remixed by Mark Plummer
77 November 2021 60 Cover by España Sheriff
78 March 2022 60 Cover by Alison Scott
79 November 2023 60 Cover by Ulrika O'Brien


Publication 1995
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