''Niekas'' (from Lithuanian: ''nothing'' or ''nobody'') was a

science fiction fanzine A science-fiction fanzine is an amateur or semi-professional magazine published by members of science-fiction fandom, from the 1930s to the present day. They were one of the earliest forms of fanzine, within one of which the term "''fanzine''" was ...

published from 1962–1998 by Ed Meskys – also spelled ''Meškys'' – of

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. It won the 1967

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier a ...

for Best Fanzine, and was nominated two other times, losing in 1966 to ''

ERB-dom ''ERB-dom'' was a magazine devoted to the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs created by Al Guillory, Jr. and Camille Cazedessus Jr. ("Caz"). It began publication in May 1960 as a mimeographed science-fiction fanzine. Guillory was killed in a car-tra ...

'' and in 1989 to ''

File 770 ''File 770'' is a long-running science fiction fanzine, newszine, and blog site published/administered by Mike Glyer. It has been published every year since 1978, and has won a record eight Hugo Awards for Best Fanzine, with the first win in 1 ...

''. For the initial five issues, Meskys – at the time a professor and a member of The Tolkien Society at the now-defunct Belknap College in

Center Harbor, New Hampshire Center Harbor is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 1,040. It is situated between Lake Winnipesaukee and Squam Lake. History Center Harbor separated from the town of N ...

– edited ''Niekas'' by himself, after which he was joined by Felice Rolfe and Anne Chatland. The latter left after issue #8.Clute, John and Nichols, Peter. ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 1995) p.871 By the late 1980s he was editing the fanzine by himself. It originated as an apazine before being expanding to a full-fledged fanzine. Meskys continued publication when his employment moved to Mankato State University (now

Minnesota State University, Mankato Minnesota State University, Mankato (MNSU, MSU, or Minnesota State) is a public university in Mankato, Minnesota, United States. It is Minnesota's second-largest university and has over 123,000 living alumni worldwide. Founded in 1868, it is t ...

) in

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth County, Minnesota, Blue Earth, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Nicollet, and Le Sueur County, Minnesota, Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 United States ...

. Meskys later wrote, "I started a separate mailing-comments zine for the APA, and changed its name to ''Niekas'' and started the numbering over again with the June 1962 issue.... Since there was no Tolkien fanzine being published I decided to devote ''Niekas'' to Tolkien and try to run at least one Tolkien related piece in each issue." The fanzine played a prominent role in the early development of

Tolkien fandom Tolkien fandom is an international, informal community of fans of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, especially of the Middle-earth legendarium which includes ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', and ''The Silmarillion''. The concept of Tolkien ...

in the United States. Issue #7 included a letter from

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

to Meskys that mentions ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...

''. In coming years, contributors included

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and Fantasy (genre), fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his :Xanth books, long-running novel series set in ...

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

, John Boardman,

Vaughn Bode Vaughn may refer to: Places in the United States *Vaughn, California, former name of Bodfish, California * Vaughn, Montana * Vaughn, New Mexico *Vaughn, Oregon * Vaughn, Pennsylvania * Vaughn, Virginia * Vaughn, Washington Name * Vaughn (surname ...

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio d ...

Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels, and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel ''The Mists of Avalon'' an ...

("Bloodthirsty for Power: Vampirism in

Hambly Hambly is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Barbara Hambly (born 1951), American novelist and screenwriter of fantasy, science fiction, mystery, and historical fiction * Barbara Hambly (field hockey) (born 1958), former English f ...

’s ''Those Who Hunt the Night''"),

Charles N. Brown Charles Nikki Brown (June 24, 1937 – July 12, 2009) was an American publishing editor, the co-founder and editor of ''Locus (magazine), Locus'', the long-running news and reviews magazine covering the genres of science fiction and fantasy litera ...

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

Avram Davidson Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...

, Philip K. Dick ("Naziism and the High Castle"),

Raymond Z. Gallun Raymond Zinke Gallun (March 22, 1911 – April 2, 1994) was an American science fiction writer. Early life Gallun (rhymes with "balloon") was born in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, the son of Adolph and Martha Zinke Gallun. He graduated from high scho ...

Jack Gaughan John Brian Francis "Jack" Gaughan, pronounced like 'gone' (September 24, 1930 – July 21, 1985) was an American science fiction artist and illustrator who won the Hugo Award several times. Working primarily with Donald A. Wollheim at Ace Books, ...

, Harry Harrison, S. T. Joshi,

Clyde Kilby Clyde Samuel Kilby (26 September 1902, in Johnson City, Tennessee – 18 October 1986, in Columbus, Mississippi) was an American writer and English professor, best known for his scholarship on the Inklings, especially J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Le ...

Tim Kirk Tim Kirk is both a professional artist and an American fan artist. He worked as a senior designer at Tokyo DisneySea, as an Imagineer for the Walt Disney company. He began his professional art career during the mid-1970s as an illustrator at ...

Sam Moskowitz Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction. Biography As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name ...

Andrew J. Offutt Andrew Jefferson Offutt V (August 16, 1934 – April 30, 2013) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and erotic fiction author. He wrote as Andrew J. Offutt, A. J. Offutt, and Andy Offutt. His normal byline, andrew j. offutt, has all his nam ...

Alexei Panshin Alexei Panshin (August 14, 1940 – August 21, 2022) was an American writer and science fiction critic. He wrote several critical works and several novels, including the 1968 Nebula Award–winning novel ''Rite of Passage''Nicholls 1979, p. 447 ...

Diana Paxson Diana Lucile Paxson (born February 20, 1943) is an American author, primarily in the fields of Paganism and Heathenism. Her published works include fantasy and historical fiction novels, as well as numerous short stories. More recently she has ...

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

, Arthur Thompson (ATom),

Bjo Trimble Betty JoAnne Trimble (née Conway; born August 15, 1933), known as Bjo (, ), is an American science fiction fan and writer, initially entering fandom in the early 1950s. Introduction to fandom Trimble's introduction to science fiction fandom w ...

Donald A. Wollheim Donald Allen Wollheim (October 1, 1914 – November 2, 1990) was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearso ...

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

("Song of the Ring", a poem).Clute and Nichols (1995) for Anthony, Asimov, Boucher, Budrys, Davidson, Dick, Gallun, Gaughan, Harrison, Moskowitz, Norton, Panshin, Pournell, Wollheim and Zelazny, names only A "Glossary of Middle Earth" by Al Halevy was an ongoing feature, as was material by Robert Foster, who later published ''

The Complete Guide to Middle-earth ''The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: from ''The Hobbit'' to ''The Silmarillion is a reference book for the fictional universe called Middle-earth of J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium, compiled and edited by Robert Foster. It was first published in ...

'', In 1968, ''Niekas'' ceased publication after issue #20, but was revived in 1977 for issue #21. By 1995, Meskys – who had become blind – was the fanzine's editor-in-chief, with Mike Bastrow listed as editor and designer. The final issue of ''Niekas'', #48, described itself as published by Meskys and edited by Joe R. Christopher.

References

{{Reflist Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Hugo Award-winning works Magazines disestablished in 1998 Magazines established in 1962 Magazines published in New Hampshire Magazines published in Minnesota Science fiction fanzines