If you’re bothering to read this now, you likely already know—I have a very active dream life. The more involved ones get reported on LiveJournal, while the ones that can be summed up briefly are being sent out into the world via Twitter. But since those near-daily tweets seem far too ephemeral, I’ve been collecting them in one place.

So here are the messages my subconscious sent to me last month. Were you with me when I slept?

I dreamt I was trying to steal a secret family recipe from one of the Babylon 5 aliens so I could cook the dish to impress his daughter. 7:51 AM Feb 28th

I dreamt I was wandering NY with Jeff Garlin looking for his favorite nut shop, and as we did so I found a pen I had lost many years before. 8:27 AM Feb 27th

I dreamt I was wandering the WTC (the WTC of now, not of then) shirtless, barefoot, in search of both shoes and shirt, never finding either. 7:50 AM Feb 27th

I dreamt I was hanging with Dad in a comics shop as a woman rode by on a bike with a chrome animal skull for handlebars. So I snapped a pic. 7:48 AM Feb 27th

I dreamt I could hear Paul Di Filippo cry out for help after he got stuck spelunking in a cave under his RI home, so I went in to save him. 7:40 AM Feb 27th

I dreamt I tried to show Martin Morse Wooster a young photo of him I’d found, but as with all dream tech, I couldn’t get my laptop to work. 8:40 AM Feb 25th

I dreamt I worked in a science-fiction bookshop that published its own magazine. Also working the store that day: Jenn Reese and Mark Kelly. 7:52 AM Feb 23rd

I dreamt I sat in a alley petting a dog who only moved in slow motion. And when I tried to abandon it, Stephen Colbert wouldn’t let me go. 7:47 AM Feb 23rd

I dreamt Cory Doctorow told me someone sent me a coded message via an ad in the NYT, but when I tried to decipher the gibberish, I woke. 7:32 AM Feb 22nd

I dreamt about Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman, but don’t know why. Only their names are decipherable from my middle-of-the-night scribbling. 7:28 AM Feb 21st (more…)

I just learned that pioneering space artist Robert McCall passed away Friday at the age of 90. I never got the chance to meet him, at least not in the flesh, but as for his spirit … I met and was touched by that a long, long time ago.

In addition to inspiring me with his visions for as long as I can remember, he also played a very important specific role in my life, by allowing Sovereign Media to use his images in the first issue of Science Fiction Age. We printed an art gallery in each issue of the magazine, but McCall was the first.

Here, from the pages of that November 1992 issue, is a gallery of McCall’s artwork, accompanied by strong words of praise from Ray Bradbury. Give it a read and gaze in awe at the pictures so that even if you’ve never heard of the man, you’ll know why you should, too, be celebrating his life and mourning his death.

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All I was looking for was a clip of Larry “Bud” Melman greeting passengers at the Port Authority bus terminal with hot towels, but you know the way things work once you get to YouTube. I of course had to click on one of the recommended videos—Johnny Carson’s final TV appearance.

And because that second clip turned out to have been posted by Alan Light—no, not the Spin magazine editor-in-chief Alan Light, but rather the Alan Light who founded The Buyer’s Guide to Comics Fandom—I ran across the fascinating (for those of us who bleed four-color ink) video below.

It turns out that on June 18, 1977, World Color Press held a celebration it called “Magazineland USA.” World Color Press, located in Sparta, Illinois, printed all of the comic books at the time, and when the company threw open its doors for a tour, Light was there with his 8MM sound camera.

When I press my nose close to the screen, I swear I can smell the ink.

Phil Seuling, who ran New York’s early comic conventions, can be seen at the 1:00-mark complaining about how non-fans were mistreating the books he’d brought for sale.

Wish I could have been there!

Letterheady is a relatively new site that’s quickly become one of my favorites. It was started a few months ago by Shaun Usher, who also runs the wonderful Letters of Note.

Letterheady is devoted to posting interesting … well … what does it sound like?

A few of my favorite letterheads have been those belonging to Nikola Tesla, Harry Houdini, and Robot Salesmen. I liked the site so much I even decided to share old Marvel Comics letterhead with them.

Browsing the site today, I discovered letterhead for an event I’d never heard of before, something called Macy’s Superman Adventure.

Macy’s Superman Adventure? What the heck was that?

I have no idea. I feel as if I should, but I don’t. And except for a few vague facts, it doesn’t look as if the Internet has much of an idea, either.

Here are a few things I was able to discover.

I was able to find out that it was a 1940 promotional show sponsored by Macy’s Department Store and WOR Radio 710. (Though, of course, that was already apparent by the strip at the bottom of the sheet.)

I was able to find a letter which had been accompanied by two complimentary passes to the event given to semi-finalists from Superman Day at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. (Now that’s an event that’s been well-documented, since it was the first public appearance of Superman in costume.)

I was able to find a poster promising that “Before your eyes the World’s mightiest Comic Book and Radio hero COMES ALIVE in a spectacular action filled adventure for all ages.”

But what I wasn’t able to learn is … If I’d gone to Macy’s 5th floor, what would I have seen? What actually happened during that spectacular adventure?

I know that out there, someone knows. So—if you know, would you please let me know?

And would it be too much to hope for pictures?

This will be my last post based on old issues of FOOM, I promise. But I couldn’t resist, especially since in this case, I have more than just one piece of the puzzle.

I loved the writing of Don McGregor, first in Warren’s black-and-white comics, and then at Marvel with Black Panther and Killraven. He was then, and remains now, one of my favorite comic-book writers. But even those of us who were his fans had to admit that he could be a bit … well … wordy.

Which will explain the tweaking he received in FOOM #9 at the hands of Marv Wolfman and Marie Severin, who collaborated on “The Harmony Factor Syndrome Beneath Wakanda.”

And as for that other piece of the puzzle—here’s Marv’s original script for that feature. (more…)

When I dug out the March 1975 issue of FOOM last week, I found something fun on the back cover—a piece of John Byrne art I don’t think has seen print in 35 years.

I have no idea why we ran this image that issue, not when it was a “Special Cosmic Issue,” with all the other feature content relating to Marvel’s cosmic characters such as Captain Marvel, the Silver Surfer, and Adam Warlock. John probably just whipped up the spoof as a joke and we all thought it so silly we couldn’t resist sharing it.

Which is sort of the same reason I’m sharing it now.

So check out Shang-She, Mistress of Kung Fu, as she teams up with Iron Sis to take on the insidious Su Manchu.

OK, go ahead, call me out of the loop. But I never heard of the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror awards until today.

And this will be the eighth year they give the things out!

Though the more I think about it, the more I realize that what’s far more likely is that I have heard of them, only they got lost in the grooves of my brain with all the other awards handed out in science fiction, fantasy, and horror.

But what got stirred up from the depths of those very same grooves is the memory of a weekend I spent with Rondo Hatton. Well … not the real Rondo Hatton. (You may think I’ve met everyone, but I really haven’t.)

You can see the Rondo Hatton I’m talking about in the photo below. (more…)

I already told you about the first review my upcoming zombie collection, What Will Come After, received—over at Gnostalgia, Barry Huddleston called three of the stories “must reads,” and gave the book as a whole “4 out of 5 stars.” (Sorry—but I couldn’t resist repeating that!)

Today, two more glowing reviews popped up online.

Seregil of Rhiminee had this to say over at Rising Shadow:

What Will Come After: The Complete Zombie Stories of Scott Edelman is a fascinating short story collection. I’ve always liked zombie stories, so I was very interested in this collection. …

The first story, “What Will Come After,” is a surprisingly tender, but shocking story about love, life, death and life after death as a zombie. It’s a fine example of what a good writer [can] do with words. The other stories are also well written, but I especially liked the Bram Stoker Award nominated stories (“Almost the Last Story by Almost the Last Man” and “A Plague on Both Your Houses”). They’re perfect zombie stories for zombie fans.

I can recommend What Will Come After: The Complete Zombie Stories of Scott Edelman to all horror readers, because it’s worth reading. If you like good zombie stories, these stories will charm you.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

And at Mass Movement, Jim Dodge, Jr. wrote:

The stories collected here are sad. They’re full of tragedy and despair. Though these tales are chock-full of survivors they still manage to be really, completely … well … sad. I can’t say I’ve enjoyed anything zombie-related as much as Scott Edelman’s newest PS Publishing release but I will say I needed to make sure I got some sunshine when I was finished. He really pulled the old heartstrings with this book and I loved every minute of it!

If you’d like to get your own copy of What Will Come After to see what these three reviewers are talking about, head here for the jacketed hardcover or here for the signed limited traycased edition. As an added incentive, Pete Crowther of PS Publishing has agreed to ship all pre-orders postage free through the end of February.

Roger Stern—longtime comics editor and writer, known for his scripting on Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and The Avengers, as well as for helping create the “Death of Superman” storyline.

Ralph Macchio—comics writer turned editor who was in charge of Daredevil for more than a decade and who most recently oversaw the transformation of Stephen King’s Dark Tower novels into a comics.

But once … once they were fans.

I was remembering that thanks to the issues of FOOM, Marvel’s fan magazine, that I dug up last week.

Here’s the editorial I wrote for FOOM #9, the March 1975 issue, in which I mentioned them both. None of us had any idea of what was to come.

As you can see, back in those days, Sterno worked for WXLW Radio in Indianapolis and published the fanzine C.P.L., while Ralph was a letterhack who won a contest judged by Don McGregor. Their comics futures still lay ahead.

Hey, we all have to start somewhere, right?

Here’s a photo that’s not quite as old as the last one, digging only 17 years back in time, to Labor Day weekend of 1993. Sovereign Media co-owners Carl Gnam and Mark Hintz wanted to do something out of the ordinary at ConFrancisco, the 51st World Science Fiction Convention, to celebrate the first birthday of Science Fiction Age, and when we put our heads together, we figured—

Hey, it’s our first birthday! Why not cake?

So they shelled out for enough cake to serve around 2,000 people, part of which you can see below. There were several overflow sheet cakes to feed the ravenous hordes. The rocket ships, which ended up looking a little too much like Hugo trophies for my comfort (since SFA hadn’t actually won any) were made of solid chocolate. Andy Porter walked off with one of them, something he tells me every time I see him. He supposedly still has it in his refrigerator.

I’m holding copies of Science Fiction Age issues #1 (which debuted at the previous year’s Worldcon, MagiCon, held in Orlando, Florida) and #7. (more…)