Shavertron: The Mimeograph Years

Science fiction fan clubs have cranked out thousands of fanzines since Ray Palmer mimeographed the very first in 1930. Out of these thousands, only three were dedicated to the science fiction phenomenon known as the Shaver Mystery. There was a reason for this: SF fandom blackballed the Shaver Mystery and its namesake, Richard S. Shaver from the sci-fi community.The first Shaver Mystery fanzine to enter this hostile environment was the original Shaver Mystery Magazine, edited by Richard Shaver. He typeset it and even printed it himself on an offset press. It ran for nine issues (a 10th is rumored to exist) between 1947 and 1949.

The Shaver Mystery Club Letterzine followed shortly after. Mimeographed by a small group of Shaver Mystery fans, it produced 16 issues. By 1950, Dick Shaver had abdicated his role as leader of the Shaverism movement. Without Shaver and his Shaver Mystery Club to support the fan base, Shaver Mystery fanzines died out.

Or so everyone thought. Fast forward to California, 1979, the year the first issue of Shavertron: Your Only Source of Post-Deluge Shaverania rolled off a mimeograph machine. The world had radically changed in the 29 years since the last Shaver Mystery fanzine saw print. Richard Shaver was dead and the disco era was well underway.

A young fanzine editor named Richard Toronto began to redefine the Shaver Mystery for a post-modern era. Shavertron became the longest-lived Shaver Mystery fanzine, with 29 issues to its credit. Out-of-print for nearly 25 years, this rarity of the Shaver Mystery genre is now reprinted in four volumes for the discriminating collector.