A complete run in eight issues of the late 1980s science fiction and fantasy digest zine, not illustrated, issues range from 38 to 76 pp. Octavo (8 1/8 x 5 1/4 inches). Original side-stapled color cardstock wrappers with vivid black and white illustrations to front covers. Some light rust to staples, very minor rubbing, interiors clean, overall excellent. Nos. 1-7: Mount Olive, North Carolina: Cryptic Publications, 1987-1989. No. 8: Upper Montclair, New Jersey: Cryptic Publications, 1989.

Cryptic Publications was a small publisher out of North Carolina, putting out a number of fanzines primarily during the 1980s, with a few publications from the 1990s and 2000s. Some of their other titles included things like "Crypt of Cthulhu", "Risque Stories", "Untold Tales", "Shudder Stories", and "Lewd Tales". Astro-Adventures was edited by Robert M. Price, with cover art by Stephen E. Fabian, Bruce Timm, and Robert H. Knox.

In his editorial prefacing the first issue, Price wrote: "Speculative fiction always tells us more about the age in which it is written than about the future age it tries to describe. ..Today's 'hard science fiction' is much, much different front the 'scientifiction' of the pulp era. And it may be somehow contradictory to pine nostalgically for a 'past future', but many of us do. In this case, such backward-looking futurism has led to the creation of Astro-Adventures."

Contributors to these eight issues included Frank Belknap Long, Lin Carter, Carl Jacobi, Clark Ashton Smith, Richard L. Tierney, Henry Kuttner, Charles Garofalo, Robert Price, Will Murray, Pierre Comtois, Jason Rainbow, Raymond Z. Gallun, Leigh Brackett, Mike Ashley, Neil R. Jones, and Don Wilcox. The magazine was notable for its pulp-revivalist sensibility, original works, and striking covers. The first 7 issues were published in North Carolina, with the final issue reflecting a change in place of publication.

Rare; as of May 2026, OCLC locates five holdings of this title in North American libraries, only one of which appears to be a complete run.

Book ID: 53699

Price: $950.00