Best of Xero

These essays from Pat and Dick Lupoff's legendary science fiction fanzine Xero provide historical snapshots of the science fiction world in the early 1960s as it was lived by a mix of writers. Highlights include Donald Westlake's humorous denouncement of the science fiction genre and the reasons he quit writing science fiction to write mystery novels; James Blish's nostalgic look back to his stint writing scripts for the popular Captain Video serial; Lin Carter's parody of Sax Rohmar's “Fu Manchu” novels; Don Thompson’s thoughts on the origins of the ultrapowerful and mysterious comic book characters Dr. Fate and the Spectre; and Harlan Ellison on the film Psycho.

Pat Lupoff is a children's book buyer and is a former editor of Xero. Dick Lupoff is the author of several volumes of short stories and has been an editor for Canyon Press, Changes, Crawdaddy, Organ, Surinam Turtle Press, and Xero. They both live in Berkeley, California. Roger Ebert was an original contributor to Xero and is now a film critic on television and for the Chicago Sun-Times.