Flightpath

Zine
Title:	Flightpath
Publisher:	Entropy Press
Editor(s):	Mike Adamson
Date(s):	1991-to about 2000
Series?:
Medium:	print zine
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	UFO
Language:	English
External Links:
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Flightpath is a gen UFO anthology.

All of the fiction is by Jane of Australia using different pseuds.

Description

From the publisher:

After a hiatus of some years, Entropy Express returns with a new format. Instead of small zines which restrict the development of stories — bigger zines mean more and better stories. Rather than a mixed-media zine doing marginal justice to a group of topics, we devoted more than double the pagespace of our old zines to just one program, so the fans of individual shows need not buy a whole zine for only a portion of its contents.

The Last Issue Was Besieged by Problems

Issue #7 was first late, then altered.

Bill Hupe's gafiation was one reason for the delay. See more below.

Another snarl was a cease and desist letter regarding one of the stories in the zine, one that does not appear in later reprints. See more below.

Flyers

See the original flyers here.

Issue 1

Flightpath 1 was first available mid-June 1991 and contains 170 pages.

Three of the stories appeared six years previously in the original release of Syndicated Images and are presented here in rewritten form, with new illustrations and new typesetting.

cover of issue #1

• Widowmaker by Jack Heston ("Skydiver 6 is a jinxed ship, but Carlin and 6's new skipper are determined to lift the curse the only way that counts — victory in the air!") (reprinted from Syndicated Images #1)
• Friends and Traitors by Adam Jenson ("An alien is ready to defect to Earth and uses a highly unusual channel by which to do so.") (reprinted from Syndicated Images #4)
• Night Trap by G.W. Conrad ("SHADO turns a 'psychic lens' back upon the aliens in an ingenious trap.") (reprinted in Syndicated Images #8 using the pseud Jack Heston)
• Firefight by G.W. Conrad ("Moonbase engages a wave of UFOs in a nerve-racking battle.")
• The Sunburst Objective by Jack Heston ("An alien sortie makes graphic demonstration of SHADO's weaknesses.")
• Hell Below Zero by Jack Heston. Deception and hope mingle with fire and ice as SHADO taskforces move on a UFO in Canada's snow-locked arctic.")
• Christmas Card by Adam Jenson ("In the snows of an English winter SHADO mounts guard over General Henderson at a meeting with Prime Minister Thatcher at Chequers — a prime alien target!")
• Green Hell by Jack Heston ("1986 — in the jungles of Central America a very different alien encounter takes place, and SHADO is swiftly on the trail of a whole new kind of visitor: with the rapid induction of a certain soldier named Dutch!") (crossover with Predator.)

Issue 2

cover of issue #2

Flightpath 2 was published in late October 1991 and contains 170 pages.

• The Hunting of Eagle X-Ray by Adam Jenson ("A SHADO jet goes down in the wilds of Antarctica and Freeman and Lake race the aliensto learn its terrible secret.")
• Erratum by Jane Sterling ("Due to a hopeless mix-up Alec Freeman is injected with the memory serum — and SHADO fights desperately to recover vital data.")
• Operation Hydra by Jack Heston ("SHADO goes for broke to inject asteroid Hydra into earth orbit as a second base. (This story follows from THE SUNBURST OBJECTIVE.)")
• Whispering Sky by Adam Jenson ("An unsuspecting psychic is used as an alien lens but SHADO intervenes and gains a window to the strange and unknown world of their enemies.")
• Warhorse by Jack Heston ("The USAF plans to move lethal warheads from Europe covertly in a B-1B Lancer, and Skydiver mustshepherd the unholy cargo against danger from the sky.")

Issue 3

cover of issue #3

flyer for issue #3

Flightpath 3 was published in 1993 and contains 160 pages.

• Earthlight by G.W. Conrad ("UFOs besiege Moonbase and a lone Paul Foster fights on the outside, cut off from help, from Earth, and from all mankind.") (held over from Flightpath #2)
• SID-II by Adam Jenson ("SHADO's main satellite is at the end of its life and a much more powerful replacement is launched. Transferring SID's higher functions to the new craft should cause no problems, but SHADO has overlooked one small detail: SID may have evolved consciousness, and as a being has the right to choose his own destiny.")
• S*H*A*D*E by Jane Sterling ("Paul Foster wakes in to a living nightmare, in which Straker is temporarily replaced by a new commander, whose identity and methods are enough to make a sane man weep.")
• The Deep Silence by Jack Heston ("Cruising under the North Pole, Skydiver surfaces to find SHADO off the air, a complete radio blackout. They are alone, and reach Skydiver 5's base in the Aleutian Islands to find it chillingly deserted. Somewhere in the heart of that icy mountain lies a lethal secret, and Carlin's crew must find it before time runs out.")
• Traitor's Gambit by Adam Jenson ("Tracing a persistent signal to rural Ireland, the SHADO commanders discover their worst fear: a traitor who speaks with the aliens... But his motives are pure as snow, and his life is downpayment on another's.")
• The Black Rose of Malta by Carla Manners ("Debut for a new writer! Peter Carlin takes a holiday at home on the island of Malta, and with him go Lieutenants Ford and Johnson, to a few romantic weeks away from the pressure of SHADO... Until the aliens lend a hand and an eden becomes a dark limbo from which humans do not escape. But SHADO breeds 'em tough!")

Issue 4

Flightpath 4 contains 160 pages and was published in April 1993.

cover of issue #4

flyer for issue #4

• Chariots of the Devils by G.W. Conrad ("SHADO tracks a UFO to the embattled mountains of Afghanistan and a strike team goes in with crack Russian Spetsnaz commandos to find the UFO amidst the fire and steel of the 1980s' rawest war.
• Pursuit by Carla Manners. While in the field, Straker is framed by a power-hungry junior officer, and General Henderson must order him brought in — or taken down. Hunted relentlessly by a taskforce of Mobiles through fetid African jungle, the "living computer" finds the only soul he can trust dwells in the body of a savage, fleeing her own grim destiny.")
• The First Law by Adam Jenson ("All vessels respond without question to an SOS, the first law of the sea, and the men of Skydiver face a terrible decision when this commandment conflicts with the necessity of security: jeopardise SHADO's anonymity, or stand by and watch the survivors of a stricken ship go to their deaths in icy seas.")
• Margate or Bust by Jane Sterling ("For the sake of his nerves, Straker is persuaded to take a holiday. Nothing much, a leisurely drive to Margate on the east coast, a little sunbathing, a little fishing. Straker might enjoy it — if he get's there alive, in health, sane, without being arrested, catching 'flu... A lot can happen in seventy miles!")
• Blind Man's Dance by Adam Jenson ("This story is a crossover between UFO and the police series Bergerac. On the island of Jersey, Jim Bergerac and Susan Young wake to the realisation that they have lost twenty-four hours from their lives, the events of which are too much for ordinary human beings to handle.")

Issue 5

cover of issue #5

Flightpath 5 contains 160 pages and was published in July 1995.

• Spaceguard: The Battle of Fort Apache by Jack Heston ("Following from Operation: Hydra in issue #2, SHADO's new space station nears completion, and the aliens sense their options eroding. They must attack, fast, before the road to Earth is blockaded with enough firepower to make it a hard-fought battle every time. But lasers are not their only weapons, and stranded on the High Frontier SHADO's best go toe-to-toe with the alien threat.") (held over from Flightpath #4)
• Into Thin Air by Adam Jenson ("Straker is gone! Abducted, vanished, only his burned-out car found in the frosty wastes of a wintery England. Now SHADO must face facts, they have made enemies, and any could be acting. Henderson's bully-boys, foreign intelligence, and there is a UFO unaccounted for. Freeman, Foster, Lake and the rest race time to find the Commander, but the truth is more shocking than any could have guessed.")
• The Rocket Men by Jane Sterling("'If we need a new piece of gear, we can wheel it in through the front gate and say it's a prop...' SHADO has never had to do so, until now. The new re-useable rocket is too big to get it to the launch site in secret, so Harlington-Straker are suddenly making a science fiction film in Scotland. Chaos has a new definition!")
• Red Ripper by Jack Heston & Adam Jenson ("This story is a crossover between UFO and The Professionals, and follows from Doubletalk and Darkside, by the same writers. These stories appeared several years ago, and the scenario is outlined in a special introduction to this story. A UFO vanishes on a stormy night directly over central London. It seems impossible, but the aliens have landed unseen in the middle of a great city, and their knives are tearing havoc amongst crumbling ruins by the river. A hundred years have gone by since such terror stalked the night, but this time CI-5 must hunt down the Ripper — before it escapes back into space.")
• Circles Within Circles by Carla Manners ("Crop circles are more than a puzzlement, and while the public is fed careful handouts by governments, SHADO scientists are working hard to uncover the truth. Not only do they appear on Earth, they have been found on the surface of the moon. What is their connection with the aliens? Is someone else trying to get mankind's attention? And could they pose a threat?")

Issue 6

Flightpath 6 contains 160 pages and was published in 1996.

• Inferno by GW Conrad ("For Long ages, those who can have dabbled in the black arts, and many a fancied demin-raiser has plied his trade: but when a covern of would-be Satanists call up a force from outside realty, they do not bank on capturing an alien in their web. An intelligence from another world, held in thrall with an entity that even the alien does not understand, is a formula for black disaster, and SHADO does not know how to fight this one.")
• Whiteout by Carla Manners ("Alien mind control has been known for forty years, but how might it actually work? SHADO scientists find the key and an expedition heads for the High Arctic to experiment with a lethally dangerous technology far from an unsuspecting public. But the frozen wastes are the perfect hunting grounds of aliens.")
• Gone with the Moon by Jane Sterling ("SHADO needs funds and Henderson won't budge: Straker decides to raise them himself. The studio is going to make a successful film and use the profits to buy new hardware! Not just any film: they're reactivating Space: 1999 for a big-screen treatment, with landau, Bain and the whole crew. It's a hilarious prospect but the strange thing is that, this time, it's serious!")
• Lonely are the Brave by Karen Jameison ("Debut for a new talent! Once, Paul Foster depended on an alien to find his way home in the trackless wastes of the Moon, and now he is in a position to return the favour. But what will his duty be, when he gets there?")
• Pre-Emptive Strike by Jack Heston ("Classic Heston double-think, SHADO fights an alien taskforce in the First World, a moody industrial wasteland under appalling weather, to protect the secret manufacturing plant where the new-generation Skydivers are nearing completion. High stakes and audacity to match!")

Issue 7

Flightpath 7 contains 160 pages.

The original issue of this zine is not the same as the reprints due to a cease and desist letter regarding the story "The Siam Sanction" by Sara Lansing:

And now on to something right off the wall!

Fandom exists on the tacitly-approved use of professional copyrights: how can it be anything else?? It went through the courts 10 or 15 years ago, and copyright holders essentially agreed to turn a blind eye so long as fandom was a non-profit enterprise.

So imagine our surprise when we were contacted out of the blue by a firm of lawyers with instruction to "modify our content."

Mike, as editor of Entropy Express, was contacted by the New York attorneys representing the widow of the late Don Pendleton, creator of the bestselling "Mack Bolan" series of adventure novels. FLIGHTPATH #7 featured a story by Sara Lansing (The Siam Sanction), which crossed Gerry Anderson's UFO with Mack Bolan. Probably a web search had brought to the attention of the attorneys the flyer for FLIGHTPATH #7, and they detected what they deemed the unauthorized use of the Bolan copyright!

They were entirely within their rights, in terms of their brief to protect Mrs. Pendleton's livelihood, to police the use of the copyright, and while they were by no means unfriendly, they were quite resolute that the story must be withdrawn immediately.

As editor of Entropy Express, Mike was most happy to accommodate them, and wrote instantly with an explanation of the position of the fannish editor, with regard to the legal deliberations many years ago, and stressed that no violation of copyright was intended, and most certainly no profit accrued. It was also explained that, for the most part, today in the TV and movie community, fandom is viewed not as violation of copyright but as free promotion and popularization of a patented product.

The attorneys were happy with the immediate withdrawal of the story and the matter was left at that. Of course, this left Mike as editor with the task of finding a replacement story to be built into future copies of FLIGHTPATH #7, and which may be issued in chapbook form to anyone who missed it previously.

It's a great tragedy that Sara's story can no longer be seen. We felt it was one of the most ambitious and imaginitive [sic] stories ever to appear in FLIGHTPATH. Meanwhile, Sara has voiced the possibility that Bolan may easily be replaced within the narrative, with minimal re-writing, with John Rambo instead! It remains the crossover piece of the issue, and sidesteps the problem.

So, as you can see, it hasn't been all beer and skittles here at the madhouse ... you wondered why we called it Nut Hatch??? Seriously, the stresses involved with running the fannish press are escalating, and the COSTS involved are getting out of all proportion.

One reason given for this zine's late publication:

Flightpath #7 should have been released two years ago, but with the demise of Bill Hupe's US distribution network we lost touch with something like forty core fans of UFO, and this meant our print run had become impracticably small. So, with great regret, FP7 was put on the shelf about three quarters complete. It's still there, and we'd love to get it down and publish it, so ... if you're by any chance a fan of UFO, or one of our old US readers who bought through Monsieur 'upe, why not drop us an email at [email protected] and let us know you're interested? A blank email with "Flightpath 7" in the message line will be fine. When we have enough expressions of interest, we'll email you the price and shipping details, and FP7 will be completed and released forthwith!

• In the Shadow of Leviathan by Adam Jenson ("SHADO Tracking Station 29 lies on the storm-torn Rocks of Columba, in the Scotia Sea, a grim and forbidding place. When the base commander dies mysteriously, Freeman and Ellis take over, and find themselves in a Gothic trap. Something malicious and hateful haunts this island, and the secret lies at the head of an ancient lighthouse. Against all sense and reason, they must lay the ghost before it lays the lays them.
• The Holocaust Principle by GW Conrad ("The Gray Beings have long been coming to Earth. They crashed at Roswell in 1947. The USAF has always known about them, but they are hard to find, hard to fight. SHADO comes face to face with its strangest-ever foe when Paul Foster finds himself uneasy allies with a Vietnam veteran — and with an alien of the known kind! A Kansas farm is an arena for mismatched enemies, and strange alliances are built by adversity.")
• Spookbusters by Jane Sterling ("Spookbusters is a new "bunko" outfit, manned by skeptics dedicated to disproving the existence of anything as ludicrous as UFOs. Organizations like SHADO are out of the question as well. As for aliens, even they can't convince these guys, when a Spookbusters unit finds itself between a UFO and a Mobile taskforce, each hell-bent on wiping out the other.")
• Flight of the Valkyrie by Jack Heston ("Follows from Spaceguard in FP#5. SHADO has worked hard and fast, and the new super-Interceptor prototype is ready to fly. She is shipped to Moonbase with double-crew and given a heavy workout, but when an alien offensive stretches defenses tight, she is pressed into service with devastating effect. It is not just a weapon system: it is a whole new way of fighting, and SHADO can start to think about taking the war back to the aliens.")