3SF # 3 publisher: Ben Jeapes. editor: Liz Holiday

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3SF # 3 publisher: Ben Jeapes. editor: Liz Holiday
Pub: Big Engine. 74 page magazine. Price: Ł 3.50 (UK)/6Euro. ISSN: 1476-8798

check out website: www.3sfmag.co.uk

An item about the publisher Big Engine appeared a couple of issues ago in Crowsnest and only last month we had a review of ‘3SF’, their new magazine which was in the process of emerging into the haphazard and dangerous Science Fiction universe.

Sadly and suddenly, both are gone probably never to live again!

3SF Uncle Geoff told me about 3SF's demise before I read issue 3 to review it for our magazine. This made the task a rather depressing exercise, almost like knowing the end of a story before reading it. Pages seemingly full of hope and promise for the future were tainted with the sombre sadness of an undertaker's procession, a procession to the graveyard where hundreds of other magazines already rest in peace and anonymity.

‘3SF’ was probably doomed before it began. Launching a new magazine is an incredibly risky enterprise. Requiring a big publisher to launch it, Big Engine didn't have sufficient thrust to get it going because it was apparently already on the sickbed itself. Like an experimental rocket from the sixties, it took off only to crash into the ocean.

A really good marketing strategy, lots of money and then more money are the requirements for launching a magazine. Very few expect to make a profit or break even within a year. The financial loss which is supported by the parent company and shareholders is expected to be made good in future years when the magazine is in orbit and making a profit.

However, this scenario relates to glossy magazines which take millions to produce and have a projected six figure readership. Big Engine wasn't in this league. As the review in last month's issue said, it wasn't being aimed at this audience either. It had quality Science Fiction between its non-glossy covers.

It had stories that discerning people would wish to read but it just didn't find enough of them to buy the magazine to make it immediately successful and obviously Big Engine didn't have enough money to carry it on until it eventually became so. It was, however, a good magazine. It's a great pity it didn't have a longer life.

And now for issue 3 of ‘3SF’ itself. The editorial by Liz Holliday was real inspirational stuff. Following on from the Columbia shuttle disaster, she put forward the case for space in an eloquent and compelling manner.

'Much as we need pure water, decent food and shelter, and clean air, we humans need to dream. We need to look up and see the stars, and know that however much we do, however far we go, there are things beyond our reach. Because if nothing is beyond our reach, there is nothing to aspire to.'

I personally think real progress into space will be made through human greed. In the past, the quest for gold has enabled us to literally move mountains while today, the acquisition of black gold enables governments to be moved. In the future, the fusion fuel helium 3 which is potentially worth five billion dollars per ton will take us to the moon and planets in large numbers. For some, this quest will be the aspiration that Liz speaks of.

The main story entitled 'Not the Last of Those Who Shimmer' by Jonathon M. Sullivan took us to a hospital in the near future where a Dr Lakeisha Summer forever seemed to be on duty when Pearlie Janes, a down and out geriatric junkie, was taken in for treatment after one of her shimmers. This is no ordinary drug though - it's a genetically based hallucinogen which allows the user to gradually build up an alternate reality in their brain.

Pearlie Janes is in the final stages of her untreated condition. We also discover that the doctor herself and some of her colleagues have, at some time in the past, partaken of the drug too but they've undergone treatment using a type of antidote which stops the shimmers from happening and destroys their imaginary world. In a time when society and surroundings are less than pleasant, retreat into this world is a welcome experience but it's also physically harmful.

Even for those now cured, fond memories of the other life still exist. Jonathon M. Sullivan has taken a wish common to us all, the wish to be somewhere else at times. That's why we read Science Fiction. However, he's made this wish far more concrete than that ever achieved by mere thought alone. If we had the chance to make the same escape, would we take it? Would Uncle Geoff be the pilot of Thunderbird 3? Would I be lost in space? Where would any of us be?

My favourite story was 'The Documents in Hand' by Colin Greenland. In this, a couple of upper class twits of the Bertie Wooster type ruminate over a cottage in Wales and the events surrounding it. This is a light piece, humorous and entertaining. Greenland's use of language and description is to be commended.

'The Charismatic Killer' by Fran Wolber gave a fascinating account of the world of prions, the insidious agent behind mad cow disease and other related conditions. Science Fiction writers would be unable to dream up a better microbiological threat than this - and it's horribly real.

The other stories in issue 3 were good and I was unable to find anything that I didn't actually enjoy reading. Nonetheless, that's the end of the story of this magazine.

It makes you wonder why more forward planning and financial backing hadn't been secured at least to give it a longer run and a reasonable chance to establish itself in the market.

There was talk earlier from Big Engine about producing an electronic version of 3SF. Maybe this is still a possibility. Surely some form of rescue can be attempted?

Rod MacDonald

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