Martin Smith died recently, and this prompted the re-publication of Rob Hansen's collection of pieces he wrote about Martin.

In his intro to the collection, Rob writes:

This collection is the result of public demand (there =have= been requests) and my own feeling that I ought to have some-thing to trade while I'm still deciding whether or not to put out a general circulation fanzine. (Any LoCs on this will appear there.) First published mainly in my FAPAzine LICKS and in BORN IN THE UK, a zine I used to do for a now-defunct US apa called APA OF THE DAMNED, all but one of these pieces (the much later PRECURSOR INTERSECTION) cover an 18 month period from May 1991 to November 1992 and are, believe it or not, an essentially true account of the events they chronicle. They're published here in chronological order rather than in order of publication. Martin Smith was my unwitting muse and he plays a part in all of them, hence THE MARTIN CHRONICLES, but their style was inspired by the writing of Charles Burbee and Dave Barry. (NEWSHOUNDS OF THE YORKSHIRE GREY is my attempt at a Dave Barry article, and Martin really does use Al Ashley's catchphrase.) The final piece, CEASE AND DESIST, was written specifically to end this collection but ended up seeing prior print in ATTITUDE, where it was rightly denounced by the readers for its particularly low humour. Lastly, but not leastly, I'd like to doff my beanie to Martin himself, a true and valued buddy who took the affectionate ribbing he receives in these pages in good spirit. Whisky, I believe.

The Martin Chronicles (177KB)

(cover art by Rob Hansen, layout of this edition by Bill Bowers)