THE FORTEAN CONNECTION

John Brosnan, Bob Rickard (mb)

I sent a link to these pages on CHESSMANCON to Bob Rickard, founder of FORTEAN TIMES, who responded with this interesting fanhistorical tidbit:

I had forgotten all about my ad for NOVACON in that con booklet!

Now it can be told. I reused the image, the following year, for the first issue of what became FORTEAN TIMES!

From CHECKPOINT #45 (January 1974, ed. Peter Roberts):

THE NEWS IS GOOD. That's my opinion, anyway. I have actually subscribed to Bob Rickard's new Fortean magazine, The News, so I've put my money where my mouth is too. For the totally ignorant, Charles Fort (whose books are gradually reappearing in paperback in the UK) was, for various reasons, fascinated by unexplained phenomena, particularly those scorned or glibly set aside by the dogmatic priests of science. The News, therefore, presents brief reports of oddities and strange events - printed and well-produced, as you'd expect from Bob. Three issues so far and they're all recommended: 6/£1.80 or $4.50.