The wikibrad fanzine archive preserves work by many different editors and publishers. This OfMSF page is told in the first person because OfMSF was my fanzine and the history below is my own recollection.
My first fanzine was the OfMSF Newsletter. "OfMSF" stood for "Organization for More Science Fiction." My junior high school friends and I had read about a science fiction discussion group at the Salt Lake City Public Library. We went, seeking information on Star Trek and Godzilla. Such information was not available at the meeting. The discussion was about Rendezvous with Rama, an Arthur C. Clarke novel. We were in fact looked down upon after expressing our interests. In the days of our forefathers, Godzilla fans were discriminated against!
So, outcasts by the mainstream science fiction community, we formed our own club, with our own newsletter, written for real science fiction fans. There were two dominant themes of the newsletter: Godzilla and Star Trek. But our byline was "dedicated to anything remotely related to science fiction" so all genres were fair game. The first issue naturally included an index to Godzilla films. It was a stunning achievement for me, before such information was easy to obtain. I had no idea Japanese Fantasy Film Journal existed at the time.
In retrospect, OfMSF was a kind of proto-kaiju fanzine. My first actual contact with fandom had been through the Salt Lake City Star Trek club and its fanzine, The Communicator, but Godzilla fans were still greeted with blank stares. When I started OfMSF I did not yet know there was such a thing as Godzilla fandom. I learned about Japanese Fantasy Film Journal through CineFan #1, and by the editorial in Monstrosities #10 in September 1975 I was mentioning JFFJ. Until then I had more or less thought I might be publishing the only kaiju publication around.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 1
OfMSF Newsletter Issue One. Bradford Grant Boyle's first fanzine, published April 6, 1975. OfMSF is an acronym for "Organization for More Science Fiction."
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 2
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Two, April 13, 1975. The Organization for More Science Fiction was a Salt Lake City based organization composed of Clayton Junior High students.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 3
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Three, April 20, 1975. The Organization for More Science Fiction was a Salt Lake City based organization composed of Clayton Junior High students.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 4
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Four. April 30, 1975. Fanzine produced by Salt Lake City's Organization for More Science Fiction. Contributors this issue: Brad Boyle, Cornell Kimball, Dan Rich, Steve Blake, Troy Thorum.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 5
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Five, May 16, 1975.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 6
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Six, May 23, 1975. Fanzine produced by Salt Lake City's Organization for More Science Fiction. Contributors this issue: Brad Boyle, Vernon King, Cornell Kimball, Derek Boam, Dan Rich, John Condas, Troy Thorum.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 7
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 7 June 1975. Organization for More Science Fiction located in Salt Lake City, Utah. The first monthly issue.
Credits: Founders: Brad Boyle, Vernon King. Editor and publisher: Brad Boyle. Co-Editor: Vernon King. Treasurer, Part Writer: Cornell Kimball.
OfMSF Newsletter Issue 8
OfMSF Newsletter Issue Eight, July 1975. Organization for More Science Fiction, a fanzine produced in Salt Lake City, Utah. Edited and published by Bradford Grant Boyle. All material by Boyle unless otherwise noted.
Monstrosities Issue 9
Formerly OfMSF Newsletter
Monstrosities Issue Nine, August 1975. Formerly OfMSF Newsletter.
Also included free with every issue are two Creature Feature Cards.
Writers & Credits
Thanks to Corny Kimball, who helped pay for this Issues printing, and the same to Mick Worthen. Also thanks to Doug Boyle, who printed up over 20 pages in all the issues (Thats a lot of pages) at no cost.
Monstrosities Issue 10
Formerly OfMSF Newsletter
Monstrosities Issue Ten. September 1975. Formerly OfMSF (Organization for More Science Fiction) Newsletter. Edited and published by Bradford Grant Boyle. All material by Boyle unless noted.
The surviving run begins with Issue 1 dated April 6, 1975. The first six issues appeared between April and May, followed by Issue 7 in June and Issue 8 in July. The August and September issues continued the numbering as Monstrosities Issues 9 and 10.
I eventually began corresponding with Mark Rainey, publisher of Japanese Giants. When Mark told me he was not planning a second issue, I asked if I could take it over and he said yes. I stopped publishing my other fanzines and concentrated on Japanese Giants. It had a much clearer identity than what I had been doing before: a straight-up Godzilla and daikaiju fanzine. In that sense, OfMSF and Monstrosities were the proto-kaiju fanzines that led into my Japanese Giants Issue 2 in 1976.
Early Kaiju Fandom Vol. 2
Includes OfMSF Newsletter and Monstrosities.