These pages describe each issue and give you some idea of what you might get by purchasing one of them. Scroll down the page to see the descriptions of issues 1 through 10. Click on the links at the bottom of the page to jump other groups of issues.
About prices: printing costs have gone up a bit since we started in 1992, and we recently had to raise the cover price of the new issues. As we use up the back-stock of older issues, we reprint them and have to pay current cost. The cover prices will rise, accordingly.
Jump to: Most recent issue | Issues 1-10 | Issues 11-20 | Issues 21-30 | Issues 31-40 | Issues 41-50 | Special Editions
The infamous original issue, no longer to be had for love nor money. You can read the sordid tale here.
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Currently out of stock. |
Covers: The front cover is by Vicki
Sinex, back cover by April Lee, inside back cover by Susan Woolard. Stories: "What Tales He'd Tell...", by Whitney Ware with illustrations by Arion Morgan, and "A Bird In The Hand" by Rachel Ehrlich with illustrations by Nancy Robak. Information: Introduces the trader ship Tai-Pan and contains a lot of background information on the universe itself. Characters introduces are Aki, Te Teko (Tina) Bush, Chester, Cory DuPlessis, Eli, Faust, Harold (Rufus) Fitz-Walter, Frith, Gaitz, Isis, Ajan Jetoru, Kelson Of Nian, Jonesy, Kiakiru, Lyyssette, F.J McQuarrie, Neko Myata, Marko Rasputin, Satin, Spike, T'Narah Shusharatutenkahe, Toktu, and Z'Khiriss (Turk), all of the Tai-Pan. Price: $6 US First printing: January, 1992 Miko's review: Here you have the cover of issue #1 that is probably more familiar to most of you. If you order a copy of #1 from us or from Ed Zolna/Mailbox Books, you will get something that looks like this. Along with a lot of informative articles about the Tai-Pan Universe and the ship itself, there are two stories. One introduces Ajan and Isis, the other involves Jonesy and Satin. |
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Covers: The cover is by Jackie
Duram-Nilsson, back cover by Chris Geary-Durrill, and inside back cover
by Terrie Smith, one of the first in a long line of Chester
illustrations! Stories: "New Queensland Station", by Gene Breshears, Keith Alan Johnson, and Whitney Ware, with illustrations by Jackie Duram-Nilsson, "Jumping Planet" by David Dailey, with illustrations by Diane Salts, and "Between A Laugh And A Tear" by Whitney Ware, with illustrations by Vicki Sinex. Information: More Tai-Pan crew members introduced: Arther Debrogue, Ayla Djibouti, Stan elkins, Rael Fellis, The Geek, Icarus, I-Ching, Shirogiin Kuroi, J.T. Thalarctos, Alexis, Bes Arbre, Maxwell Bantu, Bette, Chance, Chia-te, Chumly Duke, Bali Dul, Billy Gasdan, Lewis Jones, Keree, Lucias, Macoy, Mit-Chia, Odessa, Percival, Kol Stenz, Barney Topeka, Bamako Tuscon, Geoffery Thorndike, and Sama Yandia. Price: $8.00 US First printing: February, 1992 Miko's review: This was an important issue for us. It is 80 pages in length, longer than a regular issue, and contains the founding story of the Tai-Pan, "New Queensland Station". This is an epic-length story about an incident that nearly ruined the Tai-Pan, and if you want to get into the Tai-Pan this is a great place to start. It was intended to be exactly this -- this is the story we began plotting only minutes after deciding to start our own anthropomorphic science fiction fanzine! |
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Covers: Front cover by Anthony Waters,
back cover by Annette Pschirrer, inside back cover by Susan Woolard. Stories: "So You Want To Be A Pirate?" by Matt Parsons, illustrations by Tom Milliorn, "Rock 'Til You Drop" by Mark Allen Davis and Alan Chapman, with illustrations by Susan Woolard, "End Of The Game" by Keith Alan Johnson, with illustrations by Chris Geary-Durrill, and "Singing In The Shower" comic by Daren Bost and Arion Morgan. Information: Introduction to the pirate ship Iktome, with articles on piracy. Iktome crew members introduced: Sirrah Chakhan, Tangent Chihuna, Dr. Madeline Cross, Arnold Drago, Errol, Hachi, Sascha Tomia Haynes-McKey, Artur Hobst-Franck, Isedore, Jet, Julius Korakos, Maja Rak-ah, Gn Bn vy Bn Rastfesgn, Bendigo Roberts, Tobi Savuka, S'kai, Delta Spencer, Leslie Spinoza, Dumai Stoirmechea, Niki Sun-Comes-Up, Rik Traverse, Sartoris Rose Van Valkenburg. Price: $5 US First printing: April, 1992 Miko's review: The issue that launched our second ship, and some of the more villianous characters in the Tai-Pan universe! This issue saw my first actual story published in the Tai-Pan. Your particular issue is not likely to have the signature of Anthony Waters on the cover with the inscription "Yo Mark dude!" I know, sometimes life isn't fair... |
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Covers: Front cover by Stephen Clark,
back cover by Vicki Sinex, inside back cover by Gary Fletcher. Stories: "Changing Professions" by Anthony Waters, with illustrations by Jordan Greywolf, "Probes and Cons" by Mark Allen Davis and Kristin E. H. Fontaine, with illustrations by Gary Fletcher, "Ghost In The Machine" by Scott Hungerford with illustrations by April Lee, and "Appolyon" graphic story by Jordan Greywolf. Information: Characters introduced: Barbara Frise (Tai-Pan), Paulowitch (Paul Purrlion) Petrynskerov, Leslie Spinoza, Kita Vitarre (last three Iktome). Price: $5 US First printing: July, 1992 Miko's review: Contains my second story, written with Kristin. This issue is unusual for the large amount of artwork and stories from people who will almost certainly never see print in a Tai-Pan issue again. This issue contains Anthony Waters's first (and to my knowledge, only) published story; Anthony is so hard at work on his professional career as an artist for gaming companies like WOTC that it's hard to say if or when he'll ever get back to writing. This issue also contains the only Scott Hungerford story we ever published; Scott has gone on to become a professional game designer at WOTC and on his own, and it's likely that any future stories from him will be professionally published. Jordan Greywolf began his "Appolyon" story here but was never able to complete it due to other things in his life, he's since dropped out of the Tai-Pan in favor of other pursuits. Even April Lee, who remains a member of the Tai-Pan, has been so busy as a professional artist working for game companies that she doesn't have time to provide artwork for any fanzine. She recently illustrated two of my short-shorts, both of which involved her character, and noted that they were the first art she'd done for a fanzine in more than three years, and probably the last. |
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Currently out of stock. |
Covers: Front Cover by Jordan Greywolf,
back cover by Chris Geary-Durrill, inside back by Gary Fletcher. Stories: "First Course" by Chas PA Melville, with illustrations by Sky Rigdon, "Species Diversity" cartoon by Joseph Ricketts, "Appolyon Part II" graphic story by Jordan Greywolf, and "Ghost Writer" by Mark Allen Davis, with illustrations by Stephan Clark. Information: None. Price: $6 US First printing: March, 1993 Miko's review: This issue contains the first of many appearances by Chuck Melville! It's something of a joke around here that Chuck has to appear in every issue, either as a writer, a story illustrator, or a cover artist, just so he doesn't have to renew his subscription! This also contains the last (incomplete) installment of Jordan's "Appolyon". My first story without a co-author appears here as well. |
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Covers: Front cover by Gary Fletcher,
back cover by Terrie Smith, and inside back cover by Sky Rigdon. Stories: "Firing Range" cartoon by Josef Rickets, "Buried Treasure" by Joseph Meils, with illustrations by Viki Sinex, "Vaseline Challenge" cartoon by Gary Fletcher, and "Good Morning Dr. Bot" by Keith Alan Johnson, with illustrations by Gary Fletcher and Anthony Waters. Information: Introducing two characters for the Tai-Pan, Jerusha Chahoi and Dae Frederik Jung, and two Iktome crew, Jarl and Miata Kith-Ahnaan. Price: $6 US First printing: July, 1993 Miko's review: Contains two really nice stories! This is the only story we published from Joseph Meils; he eventually dropped out of the Tai-Pan. This is one of Keith's best stories so far -- although all of his stories are a blast to read! Josef Rickets and Vicki Sinex are two more artists who have since gone on to more professional work, but you can still enjoy the work they did for the Tai-Pan in this issue! |
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Covers: Front cover by Sky Rigdon, back
cover by Vicki Sinex, inside back by Terrie Smith. This was the last issue that the Tai-Pan produced with Whitney Ware at the helm. Around this time there were a lot of pressures on different people within the Tai-Pan group. At the same time there was a proposal for some of the core members to produce a professional Tai-Pan product for publication by Mu Press. A lot of rumors were flying about, and in the middle of it all Whitney decided to make some major changes in her life, which led to her leaving the Tai-Pan and the proposal with Mu Press being dropped. There were a lot of us who still wanted to continue on with the Tai-Pan as a fanzine. Luckily for us Gene Breshears decided to take over, because if I or someone else had attempted it, we probably would not have made it to where we are now. Gene's worked hard to make the project work and get the issues out on time, so now there's a lot more to page through besides the first seven issues! |
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Covers: Front cover by Terrie Smith, back
cover by Steve D. Corbett. Stories: "Room For Improvement" by Kristin E. H. Fontaine, with illustrations by Susan Woolard, "A Proper Cup Of Coffee" by David Dailey, with illustrations by Steve D. Corbett, and "Reputation" by Mark Allen Davis, with illustrations by Chas PA Melville. Information: Introduces two new project ships, with brief write-ups and character information. Includes an article on some of the musicians and performers in known space. Characters introduced for the Quantum Lady: Sital Funi Al-Halaj, Matthew Barclay, Edward James Buttons, Anthony "Cousin Tony" Colvin, Vn "Cousin Vinny" Cn vy Vn Helsevrn, Abyssinia "Abby" Delray, Echo, Chef Gustavus Fredriksten, Tad Hunter, Dottie Jones, Lottie Jones, Eartha "Velvet" Kigeri, Candira "Lolly" Lolipura, Meru McKay, Waiter "Bottles" McCloud, Muse, Jared "Romeo" Oromo, Adubal Ottanasu, "Oddball Bill" Pandango, Kalika Parvati, Elbert Harbin Pincottle III, Chadma Pravadsandrekar, Redshift Sue, Carmine Steele, Mandy Steele, "Boss" Vernon Tweedlo, Larinda Tweedlo, and Jayme van Cartier. Introduced for the Ramanujan: Dr. Emmett L. Barker, Dr. Stanley Cheng, Hastimuka Dalal, Master Sergeant Kumaraswami Desai, Dr. Tina French, Captain Benzar Ghatak, Mary Guise, Prof. Awrak Haoos, Kamala Harsa, Dr. Hari Kamaraj, Dr. Emalynne Shankar, and Dr. Noonian Subrahma. Price:: $5 US First printing:: March, 1995 Miko's review: Our first issue in over a year, and our first with Gene at the helm! This issue saw the publication of the first in my series of Vashti stories, and also the first story by Kristin without a co-author. Also featured is the second story from David Dailey, who is an infrequent writer for our group. It seemed fitting to finally put Chester on the cover of an issue, although naturally it wasn't the last time. Also this issue launched our third and fourth project ships, the Ramanujan (a science vessel and space academy) and the Quantum Lady (a massive entertainment, pleasure, and vacation station!) |
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Covers: Front cover by Chuck Melville,
back cover by Mark Allen Davis Meanwhile, we have the first chapter in one of the Tai-Pan Project's many episodic sagas. One of those sagas is my Vashti story cycle. Two more -- the story cycle begun with "Sins Of The Brother" and the Anniversary Bash multi-author, multi-chapter epic -- appear in later issues. With this issue we have the first in a story-cycle by Gene Breshears, involving his character Dr. Emmett Barker and the science vessel the Ramanujan. This was the first Ramanujan story to be published. |
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Covers: Front cover by Gary Fletcher, back cover by
Nancy Robak. The other two stories are more examples of how well Chuck Melville can write. "Just Sally" is something of a love story centered around my character, Eli (possibly one of the last characters you would expect to see in such a story!). The other story, "Dealer's Choice", is a short-short about a poker game, and the amazing thing is that it's all done in dialogue, and you can easily pick out every speaker from their tone of voice! Very nicely done! Our Chester art gallery features several pictures of Chester, only one of which is from Terrie Smith! |
Jump to: Most recent issue | Issues 1-10 | Issues 11-20 | Issues 21-30 | Issues 31-40 | Issues 41-50 | Special Editions
Tai-Pan
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Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe copyright 1988-2007, Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American conventions. All art and stories © by respective artists and writers. All persona characters © by their individual creators. All other material © 1988-2003 Tai-Pan Literary & Arts Project. No part of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe or these webpages may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems - without written permission, except for reviews with proper credit. We reserve the right to reprint any material contained within the pages of Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe.
