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Original SWILL
Paperback
ISBN13: 9781894602273
Publisher: Neil Williams
Published: Feb 28 2025
Pages: 144
Weight: 0.77
Height: 0.31 Width: 8.50 Depth: 11.00
Language: English
SWILL was fan magazine created in February 1981 in response to the controversy created with in Ontario science fiction fandom by a fake boycott poster distributed at the 1979 Maplecon by Neil Williams an his cohorts (Lester Rainsford and Andrew Hoyt). The fake boycott poster was intended as a surreal joke (you could only obtain the poster by already attending the convention the poster is advocating that you boycott) and appeared to spark actual animosity between the Ottawa fan group and the Toronto fan group. Supposedly the Ottawa fan group was really angry with the Toronto fan group. The powers-that-be in the Toronto fan group were going to find out who was responsible and punish them... And so issue #1 of SWILL was published.
Trigger Warning: The original issues of SWILL (1 through 6, 6.5a through 6.5c, and 7) were all written prior to the emergence of modern sensibilities and may be disturbing to some groups. Foul language is often used.
In particular: people who are weight-challenged, people who are LGBT+, people who are mentally challenged, people who are science fiction trufans, people who are science fiction mediafans, people who are comic book fans, people who are comic book retailers, people who are used book retailers, people who are androphobic radical feminists, and people who are satanistic fascist Republicans, to name a few of the groups who may find the original issues of SWILL to be offensive.
SWILL was a critique on science fiction and science fiction fandom. The original issues were crude and unsophisticated in their arguments and analysis; the analysis was more aimed at attacking sacred cows of science fiction fandom of the 1980s.
SWILL #7 is a twentieth anniversary issue that was published online. The critiques are more sophisticated and less foul language is employed.
No copies can be found of SWILL #6 which was published in December of 1981. Nor can any copies be found of SWILL #6.5c (Daughter of Swill, Mother of Scum -- third trimester) published in 1985. This volume contains reconstructions of those missing issues based on the author's memory (his recollections of SWILL 6.5c are superior -- he thinks -- to his memories of SWILL #6).
On the issue numbering system... In 2011, when I began publishing SWILL again to mark the magazine's thirtieth anniversary, I completely forgot about the Daughter of Swill, Mother of Scum issues. The twentieth anniversary issue SWILL Online became issue #7 and the February 2011 issue was SWILL #8. However, a little chaos works with SWILL.
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