Fantasy/Science Fiction Anthology

Issue 11 featured the First Episode of my Tempus Fugit series, "Out One Era & In the Other." This chapter introduces the mysterious Ultras, and the first time travel trip takes us back 3 billion years. The wraparound cover depicts a scene from Part 3 of "The Sacred and the Profane," one of comic book history's first graphic novels.

In issue 13, two more Tempus Fugit episodes appeared: "Second Venture" and Part One of "Genesis Revisited." Publishing problems caused Mike to come out with 2 issues in 1 month, and I had to scramble to have my stories ready for him. My TF saga was bumped from number 12 (March 1978), a special issue that included a color section.

Issue 14 carried Part Two of "Genesis Revisited." The episode was never meant to be split in half, but I made the best of it. This gorgeous cover illustrates "Counterpoint Communion," a strange sort of Epilog to the "Sacred and Profane" series which had concluded with Part 5 in the previous issue.

Issue 15 saw the completion of Tempus Fugit with Episode 4: "Tempus Fugitives." The final panels of the story were supposed to be animated color "holograms" -- a lenticular printing process. Mike liked that idea, but unfortunately he couldn't afford it at the time because there was too much money going into recently added color sections of the magazine.

For this issue, the book became magazine-sized (8" x 10.75"), where all previous issues had been 7" x 9.75". This was an ambitious move, but various difficulties led to the demise of Star*Reach with issue 18. I didn't have any stories in this one, but I include it here because the LETTERS page carried a thoughtful mention of my series.

Dear Mike,
--- I just finished it and loved it, but I'm still not sure that I've absorbed it all. Referring, of course, to the conclusion of Gray Lyda's "Tempus Fugit" series. On one level, I think about the story's long eons and the interactions of earth, history, and the enigmatic Ultras. On another level, I consider the journeys of evolving consciousness through mind's memory, and how it travels backwards to subtly reinterpret memories and perceptions to give meaning to the present and future. Major changes in our mentalities are evoked by alterations as basic as the Ultras' remaking of history and evolution... If Lyda ventures into entirely new territory or into more Ultra stories, I hope it's egually thought- and eye-consuming.
--- -- Leighton Ku, Berkeley, CA (THANKS Leighton, I'm glad ya liked it!)