Shavertron: The Lettershop Years

by Richard Toronto

Science fiction fan clubs have cranked out thousands of fanzines since Ray Palmer mimeographed the very first in 1930. Out of these thousands, only three were dedicated to the science fiction phenomenon known as the Shaver Mystery. There was a reason for SF fandom blackballed the Shaver Mystery and its namesake, Richard S. Shaver from the sci-fi community. The first Shaver Mystery fanzine to enter this hostile environment was the original Shaver Mystery Magazine , edited by Richard Shaver. He typeset it and even printed it himself on an offset press. It ran for nine issues (a 10th is rumored to exist) between 1947 and 1949. The Shaver Mystery Club Letterzine followed shortly after. Mimeographed by a small group of Shaver Mystery fans, it produced 16 issues. By 1950, Dick Shaver had abdicated his role as leader of the Shaverism movement. Without Shaver and his Shaver Mystery Club to support the fan base, Shaver Mystery fanzines died out. Or so everyone thought. Fast forward to California, 1979, the year the first issue of Your Only Source of Post-Deluge Shaverania rolled off a mimeograph machine. The world had radically changed in the 29 years since the last Shaver Mystery fanzine saw print. Richard Shaver was dead and the disco era was well underway. A young fanzine editor named Richard Toronto began to redefine the Shaver Mystery for a post-modern era. Shavertron became the longest-lived Shaver Mystery fanzine, with 29 issues to its credit. Out-of-print for nearly 25 years, this rarity of the Shaver Mystery genre is now reprinted in four volumes for the discriminating collector.

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 12, 2014

About the author

Richard Toronto is the author of War Over Lemuria: Richard Shaver, Ray Palmer and the Strangest Chapter of 1940s Science Fiction, a comprehensive behind-the-scenes account of two of the most controversial figures in 20th Century Science Fiction: Ray Palmer and Richard Shaver. Toronto corresponded with Richard Shaver and in 1975 attempted to co-author a book on Shaver's life. A sequel to War, Shaverology: a Shaver Mystery Home Companion is due out in September 2013. Toronto is a California native and a former newspaper reporter with a BA in Journalism from California State University Sacramento. He has been the editor of Shavertron, the only surviving all-Shaver Mystery fanzine, since 1979. It is now online at www.shavertron.com