Saturday 2 May 2009

The Dream Zone #1



The very first cover of The Dream Zone was produced by Steve Lines, who created lots of images over several issues. He has that knack of providing creepy and menacing images, excellent!

The Dream Zone #2



I recently discovered this image on the interweb, it's not a great scan but a good one, and a super cover by Helen Field. I really wish I still had copies of the early issues!

Monday 26 May 2008

The Dream Zone

The Dream Zone was an independent press magazine that ran from 1999 to 2002 and produced a total of thirteen issues. I was the editor of the The Dream Zone, it was a completely amateur publication, although printed sort of semi-professionally but to a decent standard. I got no pay and I did not pay the contributors apart from a free copy of the magazine. The response and the interest was tremendous, I made lots of friends during the three years that I was editor. The magazine contained short stories with a dark theme, some might refer to them as horror but that was not exactly correct. As The Dream Zone evolved the material took on a more bizarre nature, as there were dozens of alternative publications catering for the dark/horror fraternity and my aim was to then provide something slightly different. My decision was to accept stories that were twisted and strange as opposed to dark and terror-filled. Ultimately I was forced to fold the magazine in 2002 mainly owing to financial reasons. With the introduction of the internet and email submissions more and more foreign submissions were coming in and the postage to overseas crippled my finances. I did not make anything on the magazine anyway and in fact I used my own cash quite a lot. This weblog is my way of reminiscing, even though I no longer have some of the early information regarding The Dream Zone, in fact I only possess issues from #8 onwards!

Helen Field Illustrations




Gerald Gaubert Illustration


Eric York Illustration


Friday 11 January 2008

Special Nightmare Edition Cover


This astounding cover illustration was produced by Steve Lines for Issue #5. There follows a collection of posts that include various pieces of artwork from different people and for different issues of The Dream Zone. Unfortunately I no longer have copies of the magazine up to Issue #8 so some of the information may be inaccurate and my apologies for this. It is just so wonderful to share these marvelous illustrations!

Special Nightmare Edition (Steve Lines)


Special Nightmare Edition (Steve Lines)


Special Nightmare Edition (Steve Lines)


The Midnight Necropolis


The Midnight Necropolis (Steve Lines) from Issue #5

Special Nightmare Edition



Incidental illustrations provided by Steve Lines for Issue #5, which was themed as the Special Nightmare Edition, with stories of a more horrific nature!

At the Heart of the Maze


At the Heart of the Maze (Iain Maynard) from Issue #5

Magic Bullet


Magic Bullet (Iain Maynard) from Issue #5

The Watcher


The Watcher (Iain Maynard) from Issue #5

Back to the Dreamtime


Back to the Dreamtime (Sean Russell Friend)

Outline


Beauty Thru Submission



Beauty Thru Submission (Sean Russell Friend) from Issue #6

Bumps and Grinds


Bumps and Grinds (Sean Russell Friend) from Issue #6

Complex



Complex (Sean Russell Friend)