Oh gosh, that is some epic cross-posting.

oxonianus wrote:

Oh gosh, that is some epic cross-posting.

No worries! I figured that would happen. I agree with your conclusions, the first 50-word short stories didn't have an issue number (and isn't on Fanac), and ditto for the Silverlock Companion.

The other books/issues I agree likely never got published. I have a catalogue of Niekas materials from 1988 (Included with Silverlock) that mentions some interesting ephemera available as well, but I don't think those count at "Niekas Publications" just items that Ed was selling on behalf of the creators. Hard to tell at this point, and I never thought to ask Ed.

Also of note is what little is mentioned of the two Tolkien issues that were never published. Meškys, in his 'The View from Entropy Hall' #12 (http://www.geocities.ws/entropyhall/12.html) says this, following an account of the publication of the Mirage Press Foster Guide in 1971:
"Jack [Chalker, of Mirage Press] and I had also talked about a book collecting the Tolkien material from NIEKAS and I started going over back issues to gather it, but never finished. I now [31 May 1997] expect to publish it as a special issue of NIEKAS, with new material added, in a few years and will probably use a re-write of this piece as an intro."

So those two Tolkien-specific issues (or perhaps paperbacks) were intended to compile the Tolkien material from the first run of Niekas, all that stuff from the 1962 to 1968 issues, plus some new material of unknown provenance. Those would have been convenient. One wonders what the new material might have been. Anne Braude was editing at least the first intended Tolkien issue (per Niekas 43C), but is also no longer with us (obit. 25 August 2009), so that new material was likely amongst her effects and is perhaps now lost.

Just because I have it in front of me, I wanted to note that A Silverlock Companion was published in June 1988, and the catalogue that comes with it offers #36 as a back issue, and lists #37 and #38 as forthcoming (with planned articles to be included, some of which ended up not in those issues), so it fits in between #36 and #37 for anyone counting.

Fifty Extremely SF* Stories was published in August 1982, and comes between issues #30 and #31 (#31 mentions it as just released as the first "Niekas Chapbook" on page 1).

'Chapbook' is a fine description. Thank you for your clarifications. I had no idea I would be dropped down this rabbit hole, but it is certainly diverting!

I sent in a scan of Niekas #1 to Fanac, and they have put it online to complete the run.

https://fanac.org/fanzines/Niekas/

Awesome! Thank you!