Dr. Science Letter Collection Pt. 2

Here is the second portion of letters received and scanned by Swiss C64 scener Dr. Science/Atlantis (see here for the first one). Stemming from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, these letters mostly deal with internal group affairs and provide an insight into how demoscene groups conducted teamwork before the age of digital communication. Of course, there is also a small “scene drama” included: see the two letters of Culture, an Norwegian Atlantis member who boldly announced to quit the group after receiving no sendings from the Swiss headquarters, and then bitterly regretted the overhasty move after receiving a letter only a few days after his first announcement…

• Culture/Atlantis (Norway) to Dr. Science, late 1991 [metadata]
• Culture to Dr. Science, 3 January 1992 [metadata]
• Dan/CFA (Switzerland) to Dr. Science, 1987-1989 [metadata]
• Dr. Science to all contacts, late 1989 – early 1990 [metadata]
• Merlin/Atlantis (Norway) to Dr. Science, early 1990s [metadata]
• Mik (Finland) to Dr. Science, 31 August 1992 [metadata]
• Omega Supreme/The Shadows (Norway) to Dr. Science, early 1990s(?) [metadata]
• Rebel/Atlantis (Poland) to Dr. Science, 1994 or later [metadata]

NB: It turned out that I forgot to enable the comment function on the blog for the whole past year. No wonder that no one left any feedback! From this post onwards, there will be a (captcha-protected) comment field. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to say about the artefacts!

The Movers Collection, Part 2

After the first instalment of The Movers‘ swap letter collection caused such a tremendous interest, we finally bring you the next batch. Once again, it’s a treasure trove, full of forgotten voices from the dawn of the C64 and Amiga scene. We learn about the hardships of switching computer platforms, about transatlantic software trade and crackers worrying about being “greeted” in intro scrolltexts, we read Strider/Fairlight complaining about “communist Sweden”, SCA sending out custom-made anti-virus software to protect their friends from their own SCA Virus (the infamous, first ever Amiga virus), and so on. A particularly emotional document is the letter by Dennis a.k.a. Turtle/Danish Gold, whom many of our readers knew and met at demoparties, and who sadly passed away in 2006. Here, we read his lines back in 1987, when he just got himself an IBM PC and was looking forward to the Danish Gold copyparty…

• Action 2009 (Denmark) to The Movers, 22 May 1987 [metadata]
• Honey/1001 Crew (Netherlands) to Skylab, 1986-1987 [metadata]
• Honey/1001 Crew to The Movers, 1987 [metadata]
• Laffen/RDI (Norway) to Skylab, 1987 [metadata]
• Mr. Mister/RAD (USA) to The Movers, 21 June 1987 [metadata]
• Popeye (Denmark) to Skylab, 1988 [metadata]
• Popeye to The Movers, December 1987 [metadata]
• Popeye to The Movers, 1988 [metadata]
• STI/SCA (Switzerland) to Skylab, 1987 [metadata]
• STI/SCA (Switzerland) to Skylab, 1987 (another one) [metadata]
• Shockwave/Jazzcat (Norway) to Skylab, 1987 [metadata]
• Strider/Fairlight (Sweden) to Skylab, December 1987 [metadata]
• Strider/Fairlight to Skylab, 1987-1988 [metadata]
• ?/Trilogy (Netherlands) to The Movers, 1980s [metadata]
• Turtle/Danish Gold (Denmark) to Skylab, 1987 [metadata]

(NB: If the scans in the gallery below are too small for you, you can download the high-resolution versions at the “metadata” links above.)

Illegal #20 & Paradise Island #1

At last year’s Radwar Party, a cozy get-together of old C64 and Amiga sceners, AVH/Radwar mentioned that he might have some old paper stuff somewhere. And indeed, a few months later he provided us with an excellent collection of 1980s papermags, many of which were previously considered lost. Today, we present the first two gems – both produce by legendary German C64 scener and papermag editor Jeff Smart. First, there is issue #20 of Illegal, one of the first cracking scene magazines (see our old post here). This issue, published around September 1987, was one of the last German-only numbers before Illegal turned into the international C64 zine. In this issue, one can still feel the original intention behind Illegal – to review games, but one can also find random scene news and gossip inside, as well as a brief report on the Danish Gold Copyparty 1987, a crucial event for the history of the C64 scene. The second scan is a papermag which has been surrounded by mystery for years and is a top item on our partner site mags.c64.org‘s “wanted list”. Paradise Island was a papermag produced by Jeff Smart somewhen between May 1989, when he was busted by the police, and 1991, when he released the final issue of Illegal. When I asked Jeff Smart about Paradise Island last year, he vaguely remembered having done something like that (and naming the mag after a t-shirt he wore back then), but could recall neither when it was released nor what was inside. Indeed, the contents are not particularly memorable – apart from the great cover by Hobbit/Fairlight, who later pursued a career as a professional comic artist.

Enjoy these two rarities, and keep in mind that it’s just about 1/10 of AVH’s collection. You can browse the mags in the gallery below, or download the high resolution scans here (Illegal) and here (Paradise Island).

Better Papermag Scans

As another update from the vast collection of Goat/Laxity, we present you today with a bunch of C64 papermags, namely the German mags Brainfart and Milestone. These issues are already available on the net, but the new scans are of better quality:

• Brainfart 3 (1995) [metadata]
• Brainfart 6 (1996) [metadata]
• Milestone 11-12/1991 [metadata]
• Milestone 1-2/1992 [metadata]
• Milestone 1-2/1993 [metadata]
• Milestone 2-3/1994 [metadata]
• Milestone 3-4/1995 [metadata]

Also included in today’s update:

• Audio Visual promo sheet, 1990s [metadata]
• Commodore Scene 13 flyer, 1990s [metadata]
• The Pulse subscription postcard, 1990s [metadata]