Tag Archives: Memories of the Future

(August 16, 1970) It All Comes Tumbling Down [Vision of Tomorrow #12]

Are you finding us from Worldcon?

Join us in Portal 55 (a great deal of DISCORD there…) for weekly broadcasts and perennial discussion!



Black & White Photo of writer of piece Kris Vyas-Mall
By Mx Kris Vyas-Myall

Last month, I was so optimistic. Plans were afoot to expand the Graham Publishing SF magazines into three. First, as I touched on previously was to be Sword and Sorcery.

Cover for unpublished Sword & Sorcery #1 showing a Conan-esque barbarian leading a woman in a state of undress (ala Deja Thoris in Princess of Mars). Behind them is a dark gothic tower on a high mountain and skull like demon face watches over them from the sky.

This was to be a fantasy-oriented magazine edited by Ken Bulmer, which already had a bunch of great names attached to its first issue, including Michael Moorcock, John Brunner and Brian W. Aldiss. This project went as far as to have proofs printed, some of which have been making their way around fan circles (if someone has one, I would appreciate a copy).

The other was a Walter Gillings-edited venture called Vanguard. This would have been a reprint magazine akin to Famous Science Fiction but with more focus on British and Australian authors, John Russell Fearn in particular.

However, Graham has decided to instead cut his losses and has pulled the entire venture. Therefore, not only are the other two projects stillborn, this is going to be the final ever issue of Vision of Tomorrow.

Just as with the various New Worlds problems, this untimely demise seems to owe more to behind-the-scenes issues than to the actual quality of the magazine. Firstly, the distribution problem. I buy direct in order to avoid any such difficulties, but most people rely on shops stocking the magazine. New English Library are supposed to be the distributor but I know that even determined fans have struggled to see a copy out in the wild.

There has also been the global paper cost rise. As economies have expanded throughout the prior decade, paper demand has skyrocketed. Unfortunately, you cannot easily just harvest more trees into wood pulp and expand the number of saws in a mill. The whole cycle of expanding the forest areas to be harvested can take decades. There have been experiments with faster growing materials and moving to storing of more records on microfiche, but these are in the early stages and unlikely to be instituted in newly industrializing countries around the world. This all means that the average cost of printing a magazine has gone through the roof, which has made new ventures very difficult.

Finally, there seems to have been some commotions behind the scenes. The associate editor was removed from his post a few months back and there are reports of disagreements over content and format between Graham and Harbottle. How much this impacted the overall fortunes of the magazine I cannot confidently to say, but it is hard to imagine it has made anything easier.

So let us all raise our glasses and toast to the final issue of Vision of Tomorrow, an underappreciated venture, and mourn for what could have been:

Vision of Tomorrow #12

Vision of Tomorrow #12 Cover Illustrating Cassandra's Castle, showing Cassandra flying up into the sky on a jetpack as a large red hand extends from her abstract castle, an alien landscape in the background.
Cover by Stanley Pitt, and, to my eyes, the best they have done

Continue reading (August 16, 1970) It All Comes Tumbling Down [Vision of Tomorrow #12]

[May 26, 1970] A Regrettable Case of Runaway Apophenia (Erich von Däniken's Memories of the Future)


by Arturo Serrano

When I was appointed, in recent weeks, as a cultural attaché of the Colombian embassy in Bonn, I was beside myself with excitement about the prospect of imbibing from the richness of Teutonic civilization, whose light was but briefly obscured during the war. I say this without intending in any manner to dismiss the graveness of the evil that merely one generation ago seared Europe, but not even an army of murderers can outweigh the numberless German generations possessed of extraordinary creativity that preceded them. With one glance at the poetry of Vogelweide or Eschenbach, one gives perpetual thanks for having studied the German tongue. And the pleasures aren't limited to the written word: I need only give two cardinal points, Bach and Strauss, and the mind delights in the long chain of beauty that extends between them. This is the proud nation that birthed Dürer, Gutenberg, Leibniz, Schiller, Humboldt, and that titan among titans, Goethe… And look at the Germany of today! Upon leaving the airplane, I nearly fainted as I realized I was setting foot on the land of Günter Grass, of Siegfried Lenz, of Heinrich Böll! I believe I could put you all to sleep reciting names long before I'm finished praising the inexhaustible wellspring of genius that is Germany.

Alas, the Fates judged it fit to make a mockery of my elation when it came time for me to experience my first taste of German culture in an official capacity as a foreign diplomat.

Continue reading [May 26, 1970] A Regrettable Case of Runaway Apophenia (Erich von Däniken's Memories of the Future)