|
In
1998, Wonderella Printed published issues 425–428 of
the venerable Phooka, the Journal of the Overland Mallet
Club. Founded in 1891, the OMC sought out members who shared
three very distinct interests: overland croquet, hard liquor,
and the natural history of the Fairy Kingdom. Overland croquet
is an odd combination of the traditional game and other
sporting endeavors like polo, rugby, and small game hunting.
Aside
from printing Phooka, Wonderella Printed formed a Berkeley
chapter of the OMC and hosted games of 6-wicket and overland
croquet every Sunday morning from January 1998 to April
1999. Near the end of this stint, Phooka and the Berkeley
Overland Mallet Club received some nice
press in one of the local papers.
Back Issues
Jeff Potter at Out Your Backdoor has reissued Phooka No.428—the “Winter Wickets” issue—in a marvellous, fully authorized, book arts edtion. To learn more about this special edition, please visit the Out Your Backdoor website.
Current Issues
The Overland Mallet Club assumed publication duties of Phooka in 1999. Current subscriptions to the magazine are available to British OMC members only, although Phooka’s editor Reginald Bakeley has expressed an interest in publishing some other works with Wonderella in the future. Fans of Mr Bakeley will enjoy his contributions to the Little Wonder Series.
Phooka was printed half-digest size, or 4.25 x 5.5 inches.
Click
any of the cover images below for a closer look.
Please
note that this series has been discontinued and that issues
of Phooka are unavailable for purchase.
Phooka
No.425, for March 23, 1998: This issue features introductions
to the magazine and the club from publisher Clint Marsh
and Phooka's longstanding editor Reginald Bakeley. Phooka
reprints a croquet variant by OMC charter member Lewis Carroll,
and Reginald expounds on the virtues of chickenry and the
foul doings of the unseelie court in his article “Goblinproofing
One's Chicken Coop,” provided as a sample here.
Reginald’s views on the proper equipment and dress
for serious croquet players can be read here.
** This issue is sold out **
Phooka
No.426, for June 23, 1998: As the OMC welcomes the summer
season, more advice is ladled on the reader concerning relations
with the fairy kingdom. Correspondent Percival Dwight pens
one treatise on the use
of iron against pixies and another on the most effective
ways of keeping dwarfs off the overland course. Reginald's
poetic account of the predawn hours before summer's grandest
game, the Glastonbury Trounce, is presented here
for your enjoyment.
** This issue is sold out **
Phooka
No.427, for September 23, 1998: Reginald travels to
the annual Pan Games,
held every fall on the Highlands estate of the mysterious
Lord A—, for a debauched harvest festival that one
wouldn't want to miss, if only Reg would tell us where it
is! Percival Dwight and Chauncey W. Cunningham, Esq., use
tarot cards to divine Team Oxford's highs and lows for the
fall season, the text of which can be found here.
** This issue is sold out **
Phooka
No.428, for December 23, 1998: In the final Wonderella
edition of Phooka, Reginald
holes up at the winter quarters of Team Wales, in Abergavenny,
and reprints a fascinating story from a 1935 issue of Phooka.
Clint pulls on his warmest trousers for a trip to the northern
tip of Ireland, where he mixes drinks at The Fomorian, perhaps
the world's coldest pub. Meanwhile, Percival has found the
only known sample of fairy phlegm, and reports on it here
in his story “Murphy's Smear.”
** This issue is sold out, but a re-issue is available through Out Your Backdoor**
|
