Ecdysis

ECDYSIS worth reading?—If you are an SF&F fan uninterested in SF&F literature, no. But if you love SF&F literature as I do, absolutely! Borders on semi-pro territory this fanzine does. If that is to your taste, ECDYSIS is a must read.

About

Ecdysis is an sf/fantasy fanzine that tries to do something different with the format. Published between two and four times a year, it’s a mix of serious criticism, personal essays, postmodern buffoonery, and the frankly unclassifiable. (Plus graphs.)

A two-time Aurora Award finalist in the Best Fan Publication category, Ecdysis is edited by Jonathan Crowe and regularly features contributions by Tamara Vardomskaya and art by Jennifer Seely.

ISSN 2369–2928

Issues

No. 6  / 

Ecdysis 6 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: We Have Reached Peak Short Story
  • From Translation to Fanfiction to Fiction: Three Russian Fantasy Derivations and Divergences
  • Former Planets
  • Star War Poems
  • Larry Niven: Reducing to the Known
  • Ecdysis at Conventions
  • My Year in Book Reviews
  • Letters of Comment
  • Nonfiction for SF/Fantasy Readers: Outward Odyssey
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (14.9 MB)PDF (18 MB)

No. 5  / 

Ecdysis 5 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: Breaking (Down) the Hugo Nominations
  • In Defence of The Silmarillion
  • Peter Jackson Has Ruined Everything
  • Tolkien and I
  • Why the Eagles Can’t Carry the Ring
  • Put Glorfindel Back!
  • Galadriel Is Elrond’s Mother-in-Law
  • ‘Remembrances’ and Intolerance: On Meeting Somtow Sucharitkul
  • In Defence of Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • On Young-Adult False Positives
  • Crossword: Writers Are Horrible People
  • Letters of Comment
  • Nonfiction for SF/Fantasy Readers: Stefan Ekman’s Here Be Dragons
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Jennifer Hurd, Simon McNeil, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (14.7 MB)PDF (11 MB)

No. 4  / 

Ecdysis 4 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: ‘But It’s Not Science Fiction’
  • Invitation to the Clarion Game
  • Lockstep and the Problem of Non-FTL Interstellar Civilization
  • Conditional and Future Falsehoods: Thoughts on ‘The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere’
  • Lee Killough’s Aventine Formula
  • 10 Books That Made a Lasting Impression on Us
  • Ecdysis at Conventions
  • She Draws While They Read
  • Letters of Comment
  • Nonfiction for SF/Fantasy Readers: Eugen Weber’s Peasants into Frenchmen
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (17 MB)PDF (11 MB)

No. 3  / 

Ecdysis 3 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: The Value of Awards
  • Ancillary Justice and Its Translators
  • Of Genre Interest: Two Mainstream Novels
  • Contrast without Culture Clash: The Golem and the Jinni
  • 2013 Nebula Short Fiction Nominees
  • Samuel R. Delany, SFWA Grand Master: A Celebratory Constellation, version 1.0
  • The Day I Saw Delany
  • Letters of Comment
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Zvi Gilbert, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (10.1 MB)PDF (13.2 MB)

No. 2  / 

Ecdysis 2 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: I Can’t Believe You Haven’t Read That
  • The Science Fiction Hall of Fame—50 Years Later
  • The Bone Wars in SF
  • Two Dinosaur Poems
  • Dinosaurs and Sodomy
  • God in the Latrine
  • Letters of Comment
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (17.9 MB)PDF (6.2 MB)

No. 1  / 

Ecdysis 1 cover
Contents:
  • Editorial: Reimagining Fanzines
  • Clockwork Fish
  • The Opera of Pacific Rim
  • Equally Large Boas and Snakes on Planes: A Brief Guide to Snakesploitation Movies
  • Reading and Remembering The Hemingway Hoax
  • The Númenóreans and Navigation
  • Miscellaneous Correspondence
  • Contraceptive Brown to Be Movie Series
  • Can-Con 2013
Contributors:
Jonathan Crowe, Jennifer Seely, Tamara Vardomskaya
Download:
iBooks (15.2 MB)PDF (6.9 MB)

FAQ

What formats are available? Ecdysis is available in two formats: iBooks, an enhanced ebook format used by Apple’s iBooks Author application, and PDF.

Which format should I use? Use the PDF version unless you have an iPad or a Mac running OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later, in which case you can also use the iBooks format (the iBooks app is required). On a PC or Mac, I suggest setting your PDF viewer to display two pages at a time.

Is there a difference between the two versions? The iBooks format supports certain interactive features, like photo galleries and glossaries, that do not appear in the PDF version. It’s also in higher resolution. The text, layout and non-interactive features are identical.

Will there be an epub or Kindle version? Not unless a lot of people clamour for it. iBooks Author makes it easy to produce a PDF file in addition to the iBooks file. An epub or mobi file would have to be created separately from the source material. It would be a lot of extra work for what is essentially a labour of love.

Will there be a print version? No. The page layout is designed for tablet use; the type will look a bit big when printed.

Subscribe

Get notified by email whenever a new issue is published (between two and four times a year). Your email address will not be shared.

Contact

Send hate mail, letters of comment, and submissions to ecdysis@mcwetboy.net.