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1997-04-16
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ THE ST DISCMAG AND FANZINE SCENE ~
~ ~
~ by John Weller ~
~ ~
~ WHAT'S AVAILABLE, AND WHERE FROM ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A month ago we decided to collect together all the discmags and
fanzines that were currently available for the ST, and see how they
compared to STEN. We expected to find only two or three regular ones, with
perhaps a couple of erratic kiddy ones, so it was a surprise when we
turned up a total of seven discmags and two paper 'zines. This article
*should* be a reasonably complete survey of what's going on out there,
but if we've missed anything then it'll be reviewed in a future issue of
STEN. The famous ST NEWS is (fingers crossed!) about to be relaunched in
Holland, and that's one mag that we're particularly looking forward to
seeing again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ INSIDE INFO #52 : April/May 1991 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a bi-monthly discmag put out by the New South Wales branch of
the Australian Atari Computer Enthusiasts (ACE) group, and is available
as P.D from either the ST Club or Floppyshop. (See our P.D column for
addresses.) The NSW branch holds local meetings, but the newsletter is
particularly important for keeping an isolated membership informed of the
latest ST developments and in contact with each other. Dave Mooney wrote
to ACE recently and we're hoping to be able to set a reciprocal
arrangement where we supply them with information about ST happenings in
the UK, in return for Australian news.
The custom shell runs in mono or medium resolution colour and the
mag itself has a clean design and serious contents. Issue 52 contains
letters, news items from all over the world, good Calamus and DTP
information, hardware reviews, Dave Small writing from CEBIT, P.D
reviews, classified ads, two techie articles on compression algorithms
and theoretical GUI design, and information about the group itself.
Recognisable strands in the magazine are of Atari Australia failing
to promote the ST as a serious machine, the Amiga-isation of Australia,
and complaints about Australian STers becoming isolated from American and
European developments. The overall feel to the mag is of technical
competence, and of the usual few people struggling to keep the membership
active and informed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ INFO_ATARI16 DIGEST : issues 206 - 216, 12/04/91 - 21/04/91 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These are edited versions of ST discussions and messages from the
American Usenet bulletin board. Each issue contains approximately 15 - 20
topics, and ranges from personal experiences to serious hardware and
software discussions. Each issue of the disc contains approximately 10
days' Digests, and is available as P.D from Floppyshop.
To give an example of what the Digest covers, issue 206's topics are:
1.2 GIG drive, Atari CPU evolution, CAD 3D create and read in C?, Defunct
power supply, Flash and QuickST, Forem BBS for sale, Okami English
manual, PgC 7600 details, Postecript printing, Shareware and programming,
SIMPLE terminal emulator, SPURT, ST and RC stuff, TOS 2.05 bugfix, and
ZEST.
If you're of a technical mind, or if you're interested in American
developments, then this is definitely a mag to seek out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ INTERLEAVE 2 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERLEAVE 2 is available as Licenceware from the South West Software
Library, price £3.95. It's edited by Tom Zunder and aims to be "The
disczine for those who think that their ST is for more then just keeping
the neighbours jealous (admirable though it may for that). Interleave will
try to be a disczine unlike any other, to be based around the ST as a
tool as well as a toy, and covering role-playing, fantasy, films, books,
and any bits of politics, sex and rock'n'roll that we can fit in."
It runs in mono or colour, using the Sandpiper P.D shell, and issue 2
contains letters, an idyllic tale of a bicycle ride, a short story called
"Love Bytes", Tom Zunder's own column of 'Rants'n'Rolls, "An Elegie" by
Ben Jonson, eight articles about role-playing games, reviews of comix,
budget games and crime, SF and fantasy books, adventure solutions for
Chronoquest, Fish, Jinxter, King's Quest 1 and 2, Leisure Suit Larry,
Pawn, Police Quest and Shadowgate. There's also seven useful P.D utilities
on the disc.
It's difficult to review personal 'zines of this sort; you either
like the individual editor's approach, or it leaves you cold. Interleave
is a literary and personal comments 'zine that I personally will be
looking forward to reading again, but other ST'ers may find it thin on
articles that are directly ST-related. Try it, see what you think of it,
and if you like it then contribute to it! We all need support and
Interleave is one of the most interesting discmags that I've seen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ INC magazine, Volume 2, number 5 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a discmag put out by the Incoders demo writing crew in
Sweden. It runs in mono or colour from a custom shell and is available as
P.D from the Floppyshop library.
I've tried very hard to be impartial about this mag, but I found the
shell confusing, the contents slim, and the overall tone hysterical. The
effect was of a bunch of schoolkids leaping up and down - they're
obviously enjoying themselves, but I can't see that the mag offers much
for anyone who doesn't know them.
This issue contains a Page 3 animation of a GoGo dancer, a Sewer Rats
column with news of their activities and Doc discs, a Discussion Corner
with an overheated 'refutation' of the death penalty, a review of the
Tweety Board, a Technical Column with a small amount of info about TOS
1.4/1.6, game cheats, an arguement with another group also calling
themselves The Incoders, an embarassing supposed guide to what Lonely
Hearts ads *really* mean, (" 'feminist' means that she's got a face like a
boot and's probably a lesbian" I kid you not...), and seven games reviews.
Most of the articles and reviews are less than 500 words long and,
unless you're particularly interested in any of the contents, I'd advise
you to give this one a miss. The disc does contain some nice P.D (DC
Showit v1.1 and other DC utilities), but it's not enough to compensate for
the lack of worthwhile articles or news. 10 out of 100 for contents, but
50 for enthusiasm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ STANZINE - issue 1 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This discmag was to have been called 'ST World' but now appears as
STanzine. It uses the Sandpiper P.D shell, runs in mono or colour, and
aims to provide a humourous coverage of ST news and views. It costs £1.50
(or £1.00 if you send your own disc) and is available from Martin Betts at
5, Hempsted Mews, Lakeview Park, Chapel Break, Bowthorpe, Norwich,
Norfolk, NR5 9NL.
Issue 1 contains a news column, games tips and cheats, a column with
news of forthcoming games, Adventure Help (with no text in it), a letters
column (with no letters), some six-line P.D reviews, nine games reviews,
an article headed "A F.A.S.T Buck" (with no article there, due to
"technical problems beyond our control"), and copies of three P.D
utilities.
Martyn Betts, Lee Allman and Derek the Gerbil are responsible for
this and, in my view, should be ashamed of themselves for asking money for
it. It's a good laugh, but not *quite* in the way they intended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ DISCBOX - Issue 1 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This discmag is put out by the Prophecy P.D Library and runs in
colour only. Don't look for a front-end shell, 'cos there isn't one.
Prophecy have taken the novel approach of having a 'zine that displays
the text as Degas screens in a slideshow.
The disc contains 45 PC1 screens of text and pictures, although 50%
of these are 'Coming Soon!' info or adverts. The complex DPaint art
programme is reviewed in two screens (300 words?), The Daatascan scanner
gets the same amount of space, games are reviewed in one screen, and they
even manage to tell us "What is a Modem" in one screen. The rest of the
disc is taken up with the Prophecy P.D library catalogue.
This disc is a complete waste of time, but if you really want issue
two then send £2.00 to Steven McCarron at 1,571, Dumbarton Road,
Scotstown, Glasgow, G14 9XE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ STUNN 10 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~
STUNN is the disc magazine of the ST Unemployed Users' Group, and is
available from 10, Tilly Close, Staddiscombe, Plymouth, PL9 9DD.
Membership of the group is £1.00 per year, and the magazine is free on
receipt of a blank disc and an SAE.
Issue 10 contains games cheats, a friendly Editorial column, an
article on hacker busts in the States (reprinted in STEN #6), an article
on Paul Bocij and a history of SUUG, advice on job-hunting, five hardware
and software reviews, and details of the P.D programmes supplied on the
disc.
As you can see, there isn't much in the way of contents in this
issue, but it's worth joining the group if you're unemployed or on a low
income, as they arrange discounts for members from various suppliers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ HIDDEN MOVEMENT #1 ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hidden Movement is a paper fanzine that "aims to provide a genuine
contact point for ST wargamers and a forum in which they can express their
views, ideas and opinions. The second aim is to build up a library of
wargames scenarios for UMS, WCS and UMS II, so readers can write in with a
request for the scenarios that they want, and these will then be sent to
them. The third aim is to provide in-depth reviews of wargames software
available on the ST. These tend to get very scanty coverage (if any) in
the mainstream computer magazines and the reviews tend to be by staff
writers, not wargamers. Hidden Movement will be written by the magazine's
own readers (i.e wargamers) who are experienced in the genre and know
what makes a good, playable wargame.
Issue 1 consists of 14 photocopied-on-one-side A4 pages, and was put
together on a 1 Meg STFM, using First Word and Timeworks DTP. It is
available for an introductory price of 50p from Paul Raeburn at 360,
Windmill Road, Ealing, London, W5 4UR. Issue 2 will be available in late
November and the price will be £3.00 for the next four issues. Paul
apologises for the 'look' of issue 1, but I personally found it very
clear, well laid out, and full of interesting articles.
The 'zine contains an overview and full list of ST wargames, reviews
of the Scots' Wars UMS scenario disc, a comparison of Conflict Europe and
Red Lightning, plus a write up of the Vulcan WW2 game.
This is obviously a very specialised 'zine, but one that should
appeal to anyone who's interested in serious wargaming on the ST. Paul
Raeburn is obviously an enthusiast and we wish him well for future issues
of the 'zine and hope that he gets the support and interest that the
project deserves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ BUBLIN TIMES, issue 1791, October 1991 ~
~ "A lighthearted look at Life" ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bublin Times is a humourous/satirical local magazine compiled by Ken
Butler of Middleton-on-Sea. Issue 1791 runs to 12 A4 pages (A3 folded and
stapled) and was put together using Calamus on a 1040 STF, and output to
an inkjet printer. Futures issues can be obtained free-of-charge by
sending an A4 SAE with 35p of stamps to Ken at 10, Greenway, Middleton-
on-Sea, West Sussex, PO22 7TJ.
Although Bublin Times is not directly ST-related, it's still a very
good example of the high-quality DTP work that the ST's capable of. The
'zine contains humourous articles on car parking in Bognor Regis, Demon
Drink and Uncle Holman, Millie's Musings, an Editorial, Readers' Letters,
an agony column, poems, a Bognor local knowledge competition, Cnutty the
Viking, a prize crossword, a recipe for pink grapefruits with prawns in
avocado sauce, and various short pieces. It's illustrated with line
drawings and clip art throughout, and is extremely well laid-out.
I'd recommend Bublin Times to anyone who either needs cheering up,
or who wants to see the proper way to put together an A4 magazine.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ SO HOW DOES STEN COMPARE ? ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm trying to be reasonably impartial, but I'd say that STEN compares
very well to the other discmags. It's impossible to say that any one of
the serious mags is better than another (we're all got our separate biases
and interests), but the ones that stand out as being worth following are
Inside Info, Info_Atari16 Digest, and Interleave. Hidden Movement, STUNN
and Bublin Times would appeal to a more specialised audience, but are
also worth reading regularly. The others are only suitable for erasing.
One thing that's made plain by this round-up is that the discmags
that people are asking money for are the ones that generally are the
least worth reading. Our motto at STEN has always been "Do it for free,
and for the hell of it!",and we intend to send out STEN free for as long
as you want to read it.
Thanks to everyone who made this round-up possible, and particular
thanks to Floppyshop, Caledonia PDL and the South West Software Library
for sending us complimentary copies of the various discmags.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-ooOoo-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~