In the first issue, I talked about my most frustrating and annoying character, reviewed the gaming magazines of the time, and had several random thoughts.
This issue featured Magic as a Technology, SFTV after STNG, and "Highlander: Immortals in RPG". This issue featured "Humans and Other Sentients". How do we role-play aliens? And what could really alien aliens be like? Humor in gaming, Magic and Me, and Dark Fantasy role playing. A broad spectrum, here. The most famous (sort of) of all my articles, "Vampires: the Varieties" is in this. I've added a bit to it. There's also a review of H.P. Lovecraft's Book of Horror. An awful lot of different things here. A suggestion that the US should switch to a Parliamentary system, Poetry in RPG, a review of Twerps, a review of Star Makerby Olaf Stapledon, a review of some of the Thieve's World series, and the best RPG comics. In this issue, we have a brief comment on the GOP takeover of Congress, Resurrection in RPG (one of the better things I've written), a review of the M:tG novel Arena, and a review ofStar Trek: Generations. This featured "The Quest for Immortality", a bit I rather like. There's also "Sarpadian Wars", a suggestion for M:tGFallen Empires theme play. Issue 13 wasn't terribly unlucky; it featured more on immortality, more on Fallen Empires, and the classics of SFTV. Oh, and a bit on whether or not I predicted the Oklahoma City bombing. This issue features a rant/ramble about demonizing those who we disagree with among other things, and a bit on NPCs. It also originally featured "SFTV, The Classics", but that can be found in a revised form off the "SF, Fantasy, and Skiffy" pages. A short issue featuring a bit on the 1996 elections, and an article that attempts to discourage a certain unwise campaign idea. This Halloween issue featured an essay on "Heroism" (rather good :) ), a bit of fiction titled "The Reasonable Vampire", a review ofThe Cairo Guidebook for Call of Cthulhu, and some choices for Halloween movie viewing. This issue features my "Shifted Lands" GURPS setting, an article on when your PC should kill himself or herself or itself, a lot on the 1995 SFTV shows, "Paranoids on Parade", and a bit where I attempt to explain that the GMs who used the inadvisable campaign idea mentioned in ETM 15 were in fact not evil people. Some dated political predictions and RPG and gaming predictions. Also reviews of Made in Goatswood from Chaosium and The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, edited by Clute and Nichols. How about some revised predictions, a bit on gaming mistakes, my first "Critter Fitter" featuring the Chupacabra, and a review of Kindred: the Embraced and the MST3K movie? A pretty good issue featuring a magic item, "The Orb of All Worlds", and "Story of a One Session Wonder" about a one shot GURPS "Shifted Lands" scenario. An awful lot of stuff in this one. "When Visiting Boston...", a bit of advice on dealing with those creatures Pickman met but that are now being displaced by the "Big Dig". A bit on "The Line...", or when do gamers go crazy. A Critter Fitter on "Winged People" from my "Shifted Lands" setting. The 95-96 SFTV season. Reviews of the defunct magazineArcane and ID4. A rather nice essay on "Tolerance and Intolerance". A rant against NASA's foolish choice for the X-33. "Martyrs for Space". And let's not forget "The Margaret Atwood SF Competition". Another rather big issue. We open with a bit on the future on online computing, move right into a (rather good) bit titled "Conquering the World for Fun And Profit", keeping going into "The Martians Are Here!!" concerning those microbes, wander over to some fiction titled "Just Taxes...", stop off in "Soapbox, Here Be" where I put forth Greene's Rule, travel to "Looking Backward" where I address further stuff from previous issues, and end up in a review of Chaosium's MythosCCG. Another Halloween issue. I beat the whole "vampire" thing to death in "If Vampires were Real " (not the greatest bit of writing). There's a rather wild bit of Lovecraft inspired fiction titled "Symmetry". I answer the question, "Are Gamers Geeks?", and I reviewThe Disciples of Cthulhu. Not a bad issue; a "Critter Fitter" on "The Slime God" which I'll copy over to the RPG pages, a bit on Earthlings as white mice, some politics stuff about proportional representation and a challenge to those who want to cut government programs which will get copied and expanded upon in the Philosophy and Politics pages. There's also reviews of FUDGE andMythos: The Dreamlands. "The Eight Track Mind 26" was the last of my 'zines to appear in Interregnum; two more issues of IR were produced before it entered indefinite limbo. ETMs 2, 3, and 11 are missing from my pages; there's not much in those issue actually. The SF Classics article from 2 appears on modified form on my "SF, Fantasy, and Skiffy" pages. Some parts of the 'zines above are missing from them, but are probably reproduced elsewhere on my pages, some bits may be put on later. The better stuff from "Eight Track" is making its way to the web pages in improved forms. I intend to produce "The Eight Track Mind '98"; this will consist of bits that were intended to be in a 'zine in IR but didn't make it. That will be the end of that 'zine series; future writings will appear on the web pages and maybe in a "real" publication someday. BUT WAIT! IR is coming back, through the efforts of Joe Teller and Kiralee McCauley. I don't know at this time (February '99) if I'll be contributing, but other IR folk will be. See the web page below for information. This is actually for the bookstore owned by IR writer, Chris Aylott. The store sells both SF and mysteries, thus the name, and gaming stuff. Warp Nine Flying False Colors: Bob Butler's Rather Strange Homepage Bob Butler did a couple 'zines for IR, and previously contributed to The Wild Hunt. The page is, well, interesting. My last check there showed a lot of articles on this and that, fiction, art and so on; it's been moved and expanded. There's also several Wild Hunt covers that were drawn by the late Glenn Blacow who also contributed to that APA. He suggests using Netscape on his pages as he uses a lot of high-res and large graphics that make Explorer choke. A frequent contributor, Dave is also an PBEM gamer, and the page reflects that. "PenDragon Pass" is Glorantha usingPendragon Pass rules and has earned much praise. David's IR zine featured the adventures occurring in his campaign. A rather large site featuring IR contributors Joseph Teller and Kiralee McCauley. There's a whole lot of stuff here, including their own RPG system, and lots of other stuff including SF and Fantasy, and Pagan stuff. There is a warning that I've elected to copy so as to get it right... "This Site Contains Material That May Not Be Suitable for All Audiences and is NOT recommended for persons under the age of 18 or who may become upset at satire, parody or opinions that are not their own in regards to religion, art, history, politics or the nature of the universe." So you've been warned. Nothing to worry about if you're a reasonably intelligent, tolerant, and open-minded sort. Elizabeth McCoy's site. Links to lots of GURPS stuff, and neat links. Note in her comments that she actually makes money at this stuff. :) Her description: ""In Nomine Line Editor, GURPS player, and generally bemused," maybe... (Archangel of Archives, Demon Princess of Nitpicking!)" Rich has a whole lot of RPG articles here, and lots of links. Curtis Taylor's home page; lots of links. Rebecca Tweed's Roleplaying Page This has some background stuff from games she's been in, and a slew of links. Quite a page; he gives quite a lot of information on his background, his work as a physics teacher, and his (seeking a publisher) novel with a link to the first few chapters. His IR 'zines generally consisted of rather good fiction. The sites below.... Phillies for CongressCentral Massachusetts Liberty Coalition relate to his political interests; he's running for the House of Representives on the Libertarian ticket in the Mass. 3rd district. Collie Collier's site has all her IR and Wild Huntzines, some of her school papers, and other writings, and shows that she has a sense of humor. Peter Maranci's RQ page. There's some scenarios, a couple HeroQuests, and other RuneQuest and Glorantha stuff. Mark Sabalauskas's web page; lots of bits of his various interests. And the bannerInterregnum Contributors
Some folk have copies of their zines on their sites, and most have a lot of other RPG stuff and other things of interest. And there's anINTERREGNUM Roleplaying/Science Fiction Magazine web page at a new home and under new management. It's back in
production, and perhaps at some point I'll be contributing again.
below is for a new endeavor of his.