The Heirs of Anthony Boucher Marvin Lachman

The Nineteen-Eighties
started as a four-page first issue had grown to a ninety-eight-page publication, with a
slick cover, by the fourth issue. Then, the fifth issue morphed into a tabloid newspaper
without issue number, date, or table of contents, but the sixth issue was a magazine
again, now with a comic book section, as well as an original short story. In
January 1987 it was a tabloid again, and had added eight pages about Westerns. Then,
in March 1987 the eighth issue was called Mystery Scene Newsletter, and it was in the
form of a magazine. Randisi described it
as containing “48 pages of information
about the mystery and horror publishing
scene, essays, columns, interviews and
reviews.” He promised eight issues a year.
The fiction was omitted, to be included
in a new quarterly magazine to be called
Mystery Scene Reader. Fiction occasionally
returned, as with a 20,000-word story
by Dean Koontz in 1999, followed by
two issues in which Mystery Scene, in its
promotional mode, included first chapters
of many novels.
The “Newsletter” concept did not last
long, nor did the Mystery Scene Reader.
By the 13th issue, it was back to simply
Mystery Scene, and it still did not give the
month of the issue. The fans vs. writers
“feud” was apparently over, but Mystery
Scene was, in the words of Jon Breen, “a
lightning rod for controversy.” Warren Murphy in his column criticized Harlan Ellison,
drawing a heated response followed by an apology from Murphy for what he admitted
was “a gratuitous cheapshot.” Other early feuds included Seidman vs. MWA,
and Joe Lansdale vs. Jo Ann Vicarel on the subject of Elizabeth George. Barbara
Mertz, Linda Grant, and Laurie R. King wrote of their perceptions of male sexism.
In #15, Mystery Scene was soliciting votes from their readers for “The American
Mystery Awards,” which were awarded for about five years. One category was for
“Best Fan Publication,” and Mystery Scene got the most votes for 1987. They decided
not to accept the award, but it was apparently due to modesty, not because Randisi
said they weren’t a fan magazine. (At the 1986 Bouchercon, Randisi emphasized that
Mystery Scene is not a fan magazine.) Editing was casual, and they admitted they
could improve their proofreading; they reported the death of Elizabeth “Lennington”
(Linington).
Anthologist Martin H. Greenberg replaced Randisi as publisher, with Ed Gorman
soon sharing editorial duties with his son Joe. Ed referred in issue #31 (October 1991)
to “the new, improved Mystery Scene,” which would be published seven times yearly.
(In his 2002 article on the history of the magazine, Breen found there had been an
average of 4.4 issues per year.) Gorman said he was incorporating suggestions from
Scott Winnette, who had experience with the science-fiction magazine Locus, and
6
Jon L. Breen, frequent contributor to
Mystery Scene and EQMM reviewer..