DATA DUMP #63, A5, 4pp, 70p/$2 (USA orders in cash or stamps) from Steve Sneyd, Hilltop Press, 4 Nowell Place, Almondbury, Huddersfield HD5 8PB. Continuing Steve's series of factsheets on genre poetry with a tribute to Janet Fox of Scavenger's Newsletter, a general summary of recent anthologies, articles and news, plus further updates on the influence of genre ideas on opera and rock music.

THE FIX #5, B5, 32pp, £2:50 (6/£15; Europe 6/Eur29; r.o.w. 6/£21) from TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB (e-mail: ttapress@aol.com; http://www.ttapress.com); USA $5 (6/$29) from TTA Press, 360 W. 76th Ave #H, Anchorage, AK 99518, USA (e-mail: we21011@earthlink.net). A magazine for everyone interested in short fiction, in other words readers, not just aspiring writers. There's Paul Di Filippo's top ten stories, and James Van Pelt on the life of a story writer.

HANDSHAKE #50, A4, 6pp, free for SAE from J.F. Haines, 5 Cross Farm, Station Road, Padgate, Warrington WA2 0QG. Justifiably celebrating 50 issues (plus two specials) over 10 years, the SF poetry newsletter pushes out the boat with a bumper 6-page edition. As well as the usual market information and news of SF-poetry-related events, there's poetry from Andrew Darlington, Sean Russell Friend, Giovanni Malito, Andrei Dorian Gheorghe, Peter Day, C. Despardes, Steve Sneyd, Geoff Stevens, D.F. Lewis, Bruce Boston, John Light, Steve Urwin, Heys Stuart Wolfenden, Joanne Tolson, Jacqueline Jones, Richard Lung, J.C. Hartley, Neil K. Henderson, John A. Reynolds, Gene van Troyer, and Jim Dewitt.

NERO FIDDLED WHILE ROME BURNED, A5, 12pp, enquire to Jacob David, PO Box 3050, Eureka, CA 95502, USA. Personal zine featuring a well-reasoned if somewhat hysterical exposé of how the corrupt Bush administration is controlling the media to cover up the USA's imperialist plans, sidestep democracy and protect its corporate backers from their responsibilities to the people of America.

SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER #226, A5, 24pp, $2 from Janet Fox, 833 Main, Osage City, KS 66523-1241, USA (e-mail: foxscav1@hotmail.com; http://66.39.35.131/scavengers/). Monthly newsletter for SF/F/H/mystery writers and artists with an interest in the small press. Market news, letters and reviews from the USA, UK and elsewhere, plus Joyce Frohn on using mail order catalogues as a source of specialist information, and fiction by Donald J. Levit.

SPECTRUM SF #9, 192pp B-format paperback, £3:99 (UK, Europe air and worldwide surface 4/£14; worldwide air 4/£17) from Spectrum Publishing, 53 Waverley Park, Kirkintilloch, Glasgow, G66 2BL (e-mail: pf@spectrumsf.co.uk; http://www.spectrumsf.co.uk). New science fiction from Charles Stross, Eric Brown, Adam Roberts, Chris Lawson, and Sarah Singleton.

SIKARAN SHIELD LORD by Reverend Joanna Z. Ray, ISBN 1-85821-878-0, A5, 212pp p/b, and SPACE KNIGHTS OF SIKARUS by Reverend Joanna Z. Ray, ISBN 1-904244-21-1, A5, 153pp p/b, £11 each (£15 for both) from Scotforth Books, Carnegie House, Chatsworth Road, Lancaster LA1 4SL (e-mail: info@scotforthbooks.com; http://www.scotforthbooks.com). Sikaran Shield Lord introduces a band of Sikaran mercenaries who travel across the galaxy to a colony of Earth, where they encounter the human race for the first time. Martial arts specialists, they enrol in the colony's police force, where frequent misunderstandings with their human colleagues lead to a series of adventures, many with amusing results. In the sequel, Space Knights of Sikarus, the Sikaran warriors join forces with the humans to fight against the villainous Gloshans and their regime of torture and brutality.