Nexus

It was a dark and dreary day with irregular torrents of rain; the sort of weather one usually associates with Monday, even if just in the dark recesses of imagination. So imagine my surprise when I walked into my local newsstand and found what appeared to be a new issue of Nexus. I had to do a long double take of the cover art, just to be sure, but sure enough it was! Morbid curiosity is the reason I bought my first issue of Nexus. The blurb on this month’s cover about “Science of the Ancients” probably has as much to do with why I purchased my second issue of Nexus as did any of the other peripheral cover blurbs. Then again blurbs like “Parasites & Mental Illness” and “Oil, Drugs and Terrorism” would elicit a certain degree of curiosity about any magazine. But to see them on the cover of a single magazine? Now that’s interesting. Or curious. Probably both. Not sure about the morbidity. Oh, wait- “Cancer: the truth about survival rates”- there it is. Now on to the chewy center of the review!

Role-playing games come and go like leaves blowing on a chill autumn wind, or dysentery, depending on which games you are talking about. Magazines are often just as bad, if not worse, though some linger far longer than some might have thought possible. I have to admit that this is only the second issue of Nexus I have seen, but then it is also the second issue that I have bought, so that says something for what I thought of the first issue I bought if nothing else. As to which type of magazine Nexus is, I’ll let you be the judge of that, but it’s looking pretty solid so far.

Looking at the issue before me I have to say that is an pleasantly odd little zine covering an eclectic mix of alternative and almost mainstream news. Nexus has review sections for books, DVDs, and music near the back while sections on science and global news are spread out between the numerous articles. Articles such as “Common Law Versus the Globalist Agenda”, “How Scientific are Orthodox Cancer Treatments?”, “Our Deadly Diabetes Deception”, “Micro-Organisms and Metal Illness”, and “The Electric Universe”. Did I mention that that last article opens with a quote from H. P. Lovecraft? No? Well then I probably forgot to mention the Twilight Zone section with the article on the anomalous artifact, being a rock with what appears to be an electrical component embedded in it. Which means I probably forgot to mention the kooky ads, like the one for time machines or how to avoid land taxes and regulation or the for the energy cleaner that claims to be able to stop cancer and get rid of arthritis pain. Gems they are, gems waiting for the intrepid author to come along and cut and polish them!

What else can be said about a magazine that bills itself as: “an international bi-monthly alternative news magazine” with the top cover banner promising an eclectic mix of content ranging from stories “behind the news” to articles on health, UFOs, and future science? Save that, as previously stated, UFO Magazine this is not nor is Nexus much like Fate. Yet it’s content does compliment them.

Rating: I uphold my previous rating and give Nexus 8 out of 10 golden apples.

Full Name: NEXUS New Times (Vol 11, No 4, July - August 2004)

Page Count: 80.

Price: $4.95 US, $6.95 CAN, $ 5.95 AUD

URL: http://www.nexusmagazine.com

Nexus is the sort of magazine that those who are curious about mysterious phenomenon, planning on running a pulp adventure thriller with shadings of the occult or supernatural, or who may be looking for ideas for madcap adventure stories should be reading. In my first review I wrote: “anyone playing in, or running, anything remotely resembling a dark speculative fiction environment or games set in alternative versions of Earth, especially those presenting near to far future visions of our world as found in games like Call of Cthulhu, Aberrant, Conspiracy X, Dystopia, Unknown Armies, Chill, Paranoia, Timelords, or maybe even Buffy the Vampire Slayer” could do far worse than using a magazine like Nexus as source material. Why? The articles are not all that spectacular, nor is the magazine glossy and eye catching, yet it has an underlying charm that is hard to define. Perhaps it is partly the ads, some of which are for really bizarre products with great potential to be adapted for use in either an RPG or fantasy story, or maybe it‘s the retro feel. After all just about every other magazine on the rack is what Nexus is not, glossy and shiny and trying desperately to use some gimmick to draw attention to it‘s otherwise obviously canned, mass produced, and bland vacuous pop-culture chatter. Nexus is more like a quite old man sitting in a tired old Victorian chair, dizzy puffs of bluish smoke hanging in mysterious curls above his head as he peers over the rim of antique glasses with spirited eyes defying you to walk his way and start a conversation.

Criticism: In my previous review I had one complaint, and that was about the contents page. It was out of sync with the rest of the magazine. While that doesn’t appear to be the case this issue I noticed that several of the articles with footnotes had them split off and put near the back of the magazine. There is nothing more annoying than having to flip pages to find the footnotes, especially when there is an entire facing page taken up with ads. Let me explain: the footnotes in question were on a half page, the other half page being an ad. Now aforementioned facing page is two half-page ads. It doesn’t take a handwritten note from Sherlock Holmes to see that the footnotes could have easily fit onto that facing page with little effort. After all an ad is an ad is an ad, no matter where it is placed in a magazine. The moral being: Don’t make the reader flip through pages when they don’t have to because, uh, well, err. . . Someone may note that in a review.

Something to think about. *wink*

Noteworthy: There are two gems in this month’s issue. First, “Big Oil and the War on Drugs and Terrorism”; an article that skirts various topics that should be familiar to conspiracy theorists ranging from the Rockefellers and Rothschilds to the Opium and Heroin wars. Second, “Laurence Gardner on Ancient Secret Science”; more an interview than an article but touching upon what could be some antigravity, healing, the Ark of the Covenant, and a whole lot more. Just the sort of stuff Game Masters running campaigns of CORPS, GURPS Cabal, Conspiracy X, Dystopia, a dark science-fantasy version of Spycraft, Call of Cthulhu, or perhaps even Armageddon: The End Times might find ripe with ideas for mining.