Introduction to Sol Publications
Sol began life as an outlet for the poetry of members of a sort of pen-pal club that was formed following the closedown of the pirate radio ships in 1967. Called The Perfumed Garden after John Peel's midnight programme on Radio London, and having nothing to do with the book of the same name, The Perfumed Garden was formed to fill the void when the station closed down. John Peel had a very personal way of presenting his programme, closely involving his listeners, reading their letters and poems on air. The membership consisted of like-minded creative people. Address-lists were distributed to all members, contacts were made, occasional gatherings organised. Membership was informal; no fees were paid to join. Long-lasting friendships resulted. Tony Burrell proposed a magazine and asked for suggestions for a name - something short was required. The name was proposed by Malcolm Wright, who later became editor. The name Sol seemed to fit in with the flower-power ethos of the time.
Sol was first published in 1969 by the then editor, Tony Burrell. After six issues he passed the mantle on to the present editor, Malcolm E. Wright. In 1979 a series of poetry booklets was started and Sol Publications was founded. In the early 1980s other interests, including astronomy and politics, took him away from publishing and no new issues were published for a few years, but in the late 1980s Malcolm E. Wright began a new fiction magazine, Maelstrom, using stories that would otherwise have appeared in Sol, which was resurrected with a new editor, Adrian Green. With Maelstrom's sixth issue it focused on genre fiction including science fiction, fantasy, horror and mystery. The horror fiction tended to be of the supernatural kind, avoiding unnecessary gore. With issue No.8, in a further refinement, fiction without a fantastic element was taken out of Maelstrom's remit and held for a proposed new magazine, to be called Shadows. Non-genre fiction was kept for Sol Magazine. In May 1999, Sol Publications finally went on-line with its own website, designed to complement the print magazines, not replace them. In a curious way the present-day Internet seems to function as an outlet for creative people to communicate with each other in much the same way as we in The Perfumed Garden did in the 60s and 70s.
Copyright © 1999, Sol Publications