Editorial

We’re Back!

IN NOVEMBER 1967 from the Zeckendorf College campus of Long Island University, in Brooklyn NY, the first issue of Perihelion Science Fiction was published by two enterprising and ambitious, if nothing else, college students―Sam Bellotto Jr. and Eric M. Jones.

The amateur publication, innovative in many aspects, caught the attention of the science fiction community. Not all of it was good, but nobody ever expected the little magazine to have an impact beyond the inner-city college campus at all.

As reported by Mike Ashley in the acclaimed Gateways to Forever, the magazine “presented a mixture of fannish news, articles, and fiction, including a heroic-fantasy comic strip, ‘Alaron’ by art editor William Stillwell. Amongst its fiction was work by writers who would soon be selling professionally, including Robert E. Toomey and Evelyn Lief.” In later issues, the magazine would present stories by Dean Koontz, David R. Bunch, and comics by iconoclastic artist Vaughn Bode.

It was a bright promise. But back then, before the Internet, before personal computers, printing costs were high. The logistics and expense of distribution for magazines was a nightmare. And there were careers to get underway. Perihelion didn't stand much of a chance. I went on to become a professional magazine editor in New York City. My co-editor Eric M. Jones spent his career designing advanced medical devices and now designs aircraft/avionics parts, many of which found their way into space after all.

During each of the 43 years since, I never stopped thinking about Perihelion. It was always a big dream of mine to bring the magazine back. But the print industry continued to downsize and magazines and newspapers went belly up. Book publishers tightened their belts. I wondered if there might ever be a way for Perihelion to return. The Internet eventually responded in a big way.

E-zines are the future. All of the content with only a fraction of the overhead. Distribution is no longer the Herculean task of getting thousands of physical copies into the hands of thousands of readers; now it takes no more than a few well-placed posts in chat rooms— and a tweet or two— and the readers come to you.

We've matured quite a bit since that Summer-of-Love dream. We're light-years more experienced, with impressive resumes. We also have a budget. We will be paying for material, which means we get to be a lot more critical, and pickier, about submissions. That also means a higher quality to offer our readers. We also want to try something new this time around: afforded by the special characteristics of cyberspace—you will note, no date, and no volume number, on the e-zine. This is because there will be no distinct issues of Perihelion. Content will be updated on a rolling basis; that is, everything in the issue will stay posted for at least 30 days and as new material is accepted it will replace old material, or perhaps be added to the overall package. That way, readers are encouraged to return again and again always finding something new on the Perihelion website.

So here we are with Version 2.0, and you might say— Perihelion has rematerialized!

The Editors