Issue #1

CONTENTS:

A Fairytale • Matthew Firth
Wreckage • Andrew Hook
A Room of His Own • Joe Rattigan
Bilt • Mark Howard Jones
Breakthrough • Ash Miller
Angel Eyes • Sarah Crabtree
The Giblet Bird • Neil K. Henderson
The River Obscured • John Saxton
The Second Picture • Rhys Hughes
Cheats • Clifford Thurlow
Meeting Point • Gavin Salisbury
Alternate Worlds • D. F. Lewis
A Whining • L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims
First Course • Jason Conway
The Pools of Sadness • John B. Ford
Clear Thinking • Tim Lebbon
Willy’s Tiger • Richard Reeve
The Green Bottle • Paul Lee

The debut issue of the Dream Zone, released in January 1999, contained cover art from the excellent Steve Lines.

Issue #2

CONTENTS:

Bridge Over Troubled Blood • Rhys Hughes
Astral • Paul Kane
Dreamyheads • Sean Russell Friend
The Turning Point • Paul Pinn
The Secret of Eternal Life • Steve Lockley
Sweet and Sour Dreams • John B. Ford
Out of Water • P. C. Attaway
Prettyface • Roger Jackson
Enemy Ours • Paul Finch
Bodybag • Kenneth H. Wood
Slow Snow • Sari Pauloma
Living Beyond the Flesh • David Price
The Dream of Life • David Cowdall
The Two Philosophers • Michael Pendragon

Issue #2 included artwork by Helen Field.

Issue #3

CONTENTS:

With Love, Veronica • Kenneth C. Goldman
Playing Wild Bill • Jason Frowley
God Bless Daddy • Michael O’Connor
A Child’s Mesopotamia in Wales • Neil K. Henderson
The Ups and Downs • Nicholas Waller
Darkness Calls • Joe Rattigan
Alum Chine • D. F. Lewis
Craig and Sheila • Darren Floyd
Maiden • Brian Maycock
The Lost Something • James McConnon
Lydia Goes Off • Russell Chambers
Lifting the Lid • Simon Clark
Run Over While Staring at a Woman’s Legs • Antony Mann

This issue contained illustrations from Gerald Gaubert only, and I shouldn't really have favourites but the Antony Mann story is my all time favourite Dream Zone contribution.

Issue #4

CONTENTS:

Within Us All • Simon Logan
The Brits Down Under • Cathy Wright
Machine Readable • Hugh Cook
The Thing in the Park • Peter Tennant
Ring Mistress • Messalina
Back Above the Clouds • Mark West
Escapee • Paul Lee
It’s for You-Hou! • Dianna Hardy
The Manticore • Rhys Hughes
The Land Spider • R. David Fulcher
Wordless Waffles • D. F. Lewis & Tim Lebbon
Worm • Messalina
Chaos Theory • Steve Byrne
Cocktails for Two • Tamsin Forman
The Art of Driving • Paul Edwards
The Long, Grey Line: A Tale in the Kafkaesque Tradition • Michael Pendragon

This edition included artwork by Todd Fischer, Desmond Knight, and Sean Russell Friend, and the contributions from Messalina were poems, one of the very few occasions that poetry was included.

Issue #5

CONTENTS:

At the Heart of the Maze • Paul Kane
Warm as Snow • L. H. Maynard & M. P. N. Sims
February • Paul Finch
The Watcher • Ash Miller
Water Baby • Peter Tennant
Magic Bullet • Eoin Henderson
Blood Sports • Paul Lockey
The Midnight Necropolis • Simon Bleaken
Squelch • John Saxton
The Nightmare Plot • John B. Ford & Gary Greenwood

This issue was billed as the Special Nightmare Edition and included tales of a more horror-based nature throughout. Illustrations from Eric York, Iain Maynard, and Steve Lines.

Issue #6

CONTENTS:

Natterjack: A Creation Fairy Tale • David Canada
Beauty Thru Submission • Simon Logan
A New Neighbour • Sarah Crabtree
Measureless to Man • Peter Tennant
Mr Smith Comes to Stay • Paul Finch
The Target • Gavin Salisbury
Amphytrion • David Price
Delight in Living Things • Andrew Hook
Outline • Peter Tennant
Spiderbread • Mark McLaughlin
Bumps and Grinds • Kay Fletcher
Dear Rubberjock • D. F. Lewis
In Defence of Old Fettesham • Sean Russell FriendNot an Auteur • Stuart Weller
Defeat, Fragments and the Impossible Island • Andrew Darlington

Issue #6 also included illustrations by Wendy Down, Sean Russell Friend, and Sandra Scholes.

Issue #7

CONTENTS (not in order)

• The Eternally Descending Blade - John B Ford
• Felicia and the Cheese and Onion - Allen Ashley
• Fist World - Carlton Mellick lll
• Oh What A Friend We Have In Jesus - Peter Tennant
• Life Spans - Quentin S Crisp
• A Vinaigrette - Rhys Hughes
• Rooting the Bush - Jill McGroarty
• Folly Beach - Catherine J Gardner
• The Crystal Paperweight - Phil Locascio
• A Splintered Kind of Healing - Lee Jones
• Second Skin - Simon Logan
• Close Call - Gwyneth Hughes
• A Question of Taste - Jason Conway
• The Tower of Wisdom - David Price
• Dirt Babies - Ceri Jordan
• Cicatrice Mistress - Mark Howard Jones

This issue included artwork from the mysteriously-named stl, Russell Dickerson, Mitch Phillips, Sean Russell Friend, Mick Smith and Mike Philbin

Issue #8

CONTENTS

• The Weirdmonger - D F Lewis
• Look'd Too Near - D Harlan Wilson
• Hit And Run - Paul Lockey
• Telepathic Goatboy - Antony Mann
• The Lettuce Field - Paul Finch
• Fusion - Simon Logan
• Gretta May - Clifford Thurlow
• In The House of Magritte - Paul Kane
• Shining Man - Frances Hardinge
• Chaff - Paul Lee
• The Brain Game - Kenneth C Goldman
• Hamburger Clock - Carlton Mellick lll
• Cretaceous Seas - J Paul Dyson
• The Alphabet Stories - Peter Tennant
• The Woman Who Was Dreamed - Patricia Tyrrell
• Behind The Painted Face - John B Ford
• Rinaldini's Hands - Eddie M Angerhuber

Plus Simon Logan: A Literary Evaluation of Inmate #010574 and artwork from Desmond Knight, Iain Maynard, Sean Russell Friend, and Gerald Gaubert

Issue #9

CONTENTS

• Decay - Quentin S Crisp
• Sine Qua Non - Ken Goldman
• Boxing Clever - R Shirt
• In The Keep of the Ebony Moth - Sean Russell Friend
• The Method of Pulse - Simon Logan
• Karma - Harry Walker
• The Nocturnal Product - Eddie M Angerhuber
• The Flower and the Labyrinth - Simon Bestwick
• Last Updated - Steve Mosby
• Nobody (A Tragi-Comedy With Loads of Meaning) - Henrik Johnsson
• The Eagle-Headed Man At The Airport - D Harlan Wilson
• You Are Here (Or: Can Human Machines Find Happiness in Slavery - Ian Watson
• Glory Hole - Eve Rings
• Mimic - Andrew Humphrey
• Spawn of the Rancid Deepnesses - Mark McLaughlin
• Bathroom Secrets - James McConnon
• Dreaming Windows - Allen Ashley

Plus artwork from Mitch Phillips, Sean Russell Friend, Desmond Knight and Gerald Gaubert

Issue #10

CONTENTS

• Luminosity by Paul Edwards
• Overriding the Mainframe by Kevin L Donihe
• Peter Tennant and the Truth About Imagination: A Story by Robert Wolfe by Peter Tennant
• Wiggles by Brendan Connell
• the binding by simonlogan
• Whisper Love With Rose-Sky Diamonds by Tim Groome
• At The Heart of It All by Robert Tamlyn
• Care In The Community by Charlie Williams
• The Tenth Night* by Natsume Soseki
• In All My Years Of Kindergarten by Glen Krisch
• The Earwig Flesh Factory by Carlton Mellick lll
• Next To Godliness by Allen Ashley
• Jellydammerung! by Rhys Hughes

Plus illustrations by Simon Duric, Desmond Knight, Dee Rimbaud and Eric York

*The Tenth Night was translated from the original Japanese by Quentin S Crisp

Issue #11 Illustrations

Issue #11

CONTENTS

• Harmonic Excursions - Allen Ashley
• The Planet Eater - Hertzan Chimera
• There Is A Man - A D Dawson
• The Rift - David Price
• The Underpass - Tim Groome
• After All - Paul Brownsey
• The Second Night - Natsume Soseki*
• The Man And I - D Harlan Wilson
• Off The Shelf - Steve Redwood
• The Desiccated Sage - Rhys Hughes

*The Second Night was translated from the original Japanese by Quentin S Crisp

The Dream Zone #11 also included the non-fiction piece Lay Your Burden Down: A Plea For The Necessity Of Humour by Neil K Henderson, plus artwork from Simon Duric, Desmond Knight, Claudio Parentela and Eric York.

Issue #12 Illustrations

Issue #12

CONTENTS

• Stagefright - D Harlan Wilson
• Looking Back On The Summer Of '87 - Robin Gilbert
• The Stone Which The Builders Rejected - Peter Tennant
• Four Days To Forever - Paul Pinn
• Tick-a Tick-a - James Ryan
• A Colour Darker Than Black - Patricia Tyrrell
• Lemmings - Gaie Sebold
• The Locust People - Allen Ashley
• Now Recruiting - Steve Eldritch
• Shadow Christ - Martin Cowap
• The Door At The Edge of The World - Kristine Ong Muslim
• Streetcorner Mouse - Rhys Hughes
• Mr Konstantin's Visitors - David Mathew and M F Korn
• Virtual Armageddon - Michael Pendragon
• The Message - D Harlan Wilson

Also included was the non-fiction article A Response To The Question: Have You Ever Read Proust? by Neil K Henderson, and an interview with D Harlan Wilson, plus artwork from Simon Duric, Desmond Knight and Claudio Parentela.

Issue #13 Artwork

These are samples of artwork produced by Claudio Parentela for the 13th issue.

Issue #13

CONTENTS

• The Flatterer - Brendan Connell
• Vacation - Glen Krisch
• Game For Anything - Max Strange
• Fruit From The Barbarous Garden - Richard Gavin
• Water Cut In Half - Cory Harding
• The Heisenberg Mutation - Steve Redwood
• Tinselstadt - Tim Groome
• It Tolls For Thee - Abel Diaz
• The Mad Mutants' Tea Party - Paul Pinn
• Quite A Fine Day - Polycarp Kusch
• The Accidental Collision of Particles - Simon Logan
• Mask Man - Mike Russell
• No Choice - A D Dawson
• The Seventh Night - Natsume Soseki*
• Rotten Core - Steve Goldsmith
• The Itchy Skin of Creepy Aplomb - Rhys Hughes

*Translated from the original Japanese by Quentin S Crisp

Issue #13 included the non-fiction article Reach For The Stamps, or "Clips Away"! by Neil K Henderson, plus artwork from Desmond Knight, Lynne Jamneck, Raymond Betancourt and Claudio Parentela.

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 I will attempt to produce a detailed memory of the magazine.