The Way Back is unusual in fanzines in that it was jointly edited by two fans
on opposites sides of the Atlantic who to this day have never actually met
each other. It came into being when Leigh Arnold, a former Blake's 7 zine
editor, had a riding accident which put her in a coma for five months. When
she came out of the coma, she was partly paralysed and suffering from severe
memory loss. Jean Graham and I wanted to raise some money towards her
medical expenses, and this zine was the result. It was published in two
editions, quarto in the US and A4 from me. Both editions contain the same
stories and the same artwork, the only minor differences are in the page
layout. Normerly, writers get a free copy of any zine they have material in, in the case of The Way Back, the writers very generously agreed to purchase their copies in order to maximise funds raised. My thanks to them, and also to the other fans who did the slave labour job of helping me with collating and binding.
Since the zine was first produced, Leigh has been making a steady recovery. Most of her memory has returned, she is able to walk again and use a computer, but she is still suffering from some right side paralysis. Her improvement has allowed her to leave the home for the brain-injured where she had been living to move in with her brother. Her aim is to be able to return to full time employment. Anyone who has read Desperado will know Leigh's strong love of horses and dogs, and pets are still an important part of her life.
There are too many stories in the zine for me to print extracts from all of them, so I'll just do a selection here.
Pre Series A
Series A
The Way back is an A4 Zine, 150 pages with a colour cover, 116,000 words, comb bound.
The Way Back is now out of print.
Last updated on 20th of September 2000.