Tavia did some zine statistics.

There have been a total of more than 800 all-Blake's 7 fiction zines produced. Zine production peaked in 1988, with a total of 73 zines, and

has

since trailed off appreciably:

(Numbers are average per year) 1978--1979: 14 1980--1984: 31 1985--1989: 55 1990--1994: 36 1995--1999: 21 2000--2001: 9 No date avail: 54 (total)

Tavia, thank you ever so much. I knew that zine production had failed drastically since I first got into B7 which was in 1993. But it was interesting to see it spelled out.

Since there are a total of 800 zines and I own almost every Blake zine (or have owned it at one time) except for two zines, I see now why I have bankers box after box littering my bedroom and driving my husband crazy. Bankers boxers aren't exactly lovely pieces of furniture--especially stacked three and four boxes high. The upside to this is that the cat can use the stacked boxes as a launch pad to get to the top or our seven foot bookcase (also filled with zines and more zines as well as Corgi and Comet Liberators on display) to then jump to the top of the exposed beams in our 15 foot high bedroom and look out at the birds flying about in front of the house and the deer on the hill behind us. So all my boxes of zines DO serve some purpose, even if they do not add to the decor.

The two zines I am still looking for, by the way, are Wallow Plus TWO and Orion's Approach. I have no clue that Blake is in them, but I would like to check them out. I will gladly take copies and, yes, I know that Wallow Plus TWO will be virtually unreadable because it is such an old British zine and the production quality has faded with time. Wallow Plus One is an interesting zine, and I really would like to have the sequel. Orion's Approach is a cartoon book.

It's rather sad that I join B7 when the average zine amount is 36 and now the average is down to 9. But it is good for the pocketbook (and there's little B7 offered in general these days that I want to buy ) and for the space problem (as in lack of space) in my bedroom.

Thanks again, Tavia. Your entire post was extremely interesting.

I would think that Judith Proctor might like this information for her website. You might contact her.

Joyce