Paper letters from mid-1990s members of the ZX Spectrum scene
This section is about the culture of swapping and snailmail — exchanging floppy disks and cassettes by ordinary (snail) mail. Without that network of exchange, the demoscene of the USSR and Eastern Europe in the 1980s–1990s might not have developed into the form we know today.
Before the Internet became widespread, paper letters were what linked active users across cities and countries. Exchange was usually handled by a dedicated person — a swapper. They kept in touch with dozens, sometimes hundreds of people. How quickly new releases (software, games and demos) spread across the scene depended on them. Swappers often also sold software at local markets and by mail.
This section collects scans of paper letters from members of the post-Soviet ZX Spectrum scene of the 1990s. In them you will find news, plans, and discussions of programs, games, demos and the demoscene of that time.
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Letter from D-Man in Kovrov: BUZZ, FunTop and a Wanted List for Samara
Topics include the BUZZ and OBERON diskzines, FunTop demoparty prep, group roster (ZX-Division and PC-Division), projects TRICK, "12 Secret Books", Siluet, replies to a Wanted software list, floppy disk shortage, a group photo, a cheat code for Raven, and a warning about a turbocharged disk interface.
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Letter from Sergius in Kovrov: Oberon Is Over, Waiting for a Reply from Samara
The author mourns the end of the Oberon magazine, thanks Maxim for software and disks, encloses a local newspaper with an FT'98 article, jokes about illegible handwriting, and asks for details on Speed Co. members and Spectrum users in Samara. Topics include floppy drives, disk quality, photos, a TR-DOS-capable emulator, and a copy of Magnetron.
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A ZX Spectrum scene letter: Born Dead, Scorpion, and a New Year greeting
A short note from Sergius Puzzler (SP), dated December 16, 1998, asking to save the source code of a new digitized-audio player for Vel and reporting a performance issue with MONSTR’s Born Dead disk magazine viewer on the Scorpion computer when music is enabled. The letter ends with a New Year greeting.
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Letter After FunTop from Sergius Puzzler to M.M.A.
A letter sent after the FunTop event, enclosing a promised photograph and apologizing for its poor quality. The author briefly introduces the PROXIMA team and their ZX-PILOT magazine, offering to send all available issues, including the upcoming Issue #28. He mentions hearing that the recipient avoids being photographed because of concerns about unauthorized publication, hopes it is only a joke, and closes by wishing the OBERON team success with future releases.
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MS bought an Amiga 600, and SVV also uses an Amiga. Spider works, but he rarely uses the Spectrum.
The author congratulates him on his 21st birthday on behalf of himself and several other friends—Spider, SVV, and MS. He apologizes for wanting to attach a bunch of photos but lost the negatives.
He shares some news: he's back from Abkhazia and hasn't programmed anything for three months—his time is constantly consumed by work, travel, and girls. His friends aren't coding much either; they've all switched to Amigas. He returns several Spectrum game and magazine discs to Vova. He asks him to write a biography for a magazine—editor Danila Bayanov is looking for material.
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Viator profiles RUSH — an association of demoscene groups from Ukraine and Belarus
Viator from AVALON/RUSH talks about RUSH — an association of demoscene groups from Ukraine and Belarus — and his connections within the scene. Two major projects are in the pipeline: the game ROBOJOR 4, featuring digital effects and Quadra AY support, and a brand-new graphics editor for Speccy, which is set to replace ArtStudio. The editor is already partially complete: a windowed interface, MAGNIFY and SHAPES modes, 3D functions, and animation directly within the editor. Along the way, he criticises VBI’s work — advising them to release less and focus more on quality, and offering to help with graphics, but only for a strong project.
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Lots of groups are writing great software, everyone’s getting to grips with the Amiga, and they’re getting ready for the new FUNTOP’98 competition!
Viator from the AVALON/RUSH/ASM group writes to his colleague VBI in December 1997. The long silence was due to work on the ‘Hallucinations in Opera’ demo for the ZX Spectrum, which is finally ready. Things are buzzing on the scene: groups are writing software, FUNTOP'98 is coming up, and there are fresh demos and discs to swap. He’s getting to grips with the Amiga alongside the Spectrum, and VBI invites him to join the group. On the envelope is an explanation of why the parcel was returned: an error in the postal address.
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I've drawn a picture of the “Romeo & Juliet” screen here
Paracels from Eternity Industry writes to Max, saying he hasn’t had a reason to write for a long time and is eagerly awaiting OBERON #5. He talks about his work *Romeo & Juliet*, with which he is generally satisfied, despite its flaws and the criticism it has received. He also shares his plans to create a new, more powerful piece of artwork following feedback from his critic friend Sgryz, and mentions a possible drawing on the theme of Titanic. The letter is devoted to creative exploration and work on artwork.
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Crap – ANAMNESIS, devoid of design and special effects, won over audiences with its ugly animation
Paracels sharply criticises the results of CC'999, believing that Digital Reality’s demo JAM was more deserving of victory than ANAMNESIS by Fake Masters. He condemns the overemphasis on animation at the expense of design, graphics and effects, disputes the views of the scene reviewers, and warns Max against adopting a similar approach in his new demo with ALK. He also asks for his work FIGHT THE FUTURE to be published on PARADOX'99, as it did not make it onto DOXYCON'99.
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We recently went to Vladimir to visit REMEDY
Paracels writes to Max about the graphic design commission he has accepted and asks for further details regarding the artwork. He mentions that he has prepared the covers for *Fatality*, talks about his work on the magazine *Trud i Chest* and points out editorial errors in the article about Spectrum. He shares scene news: BORN DEAD #7, a trip to Vladimir, meetings with Remedy, SAT, Snake2 and others, stories about X-Files posters, Ash’s affairs, and music and newspaper projects. He sends regards to familiar bands
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Advertisement for the first issue of ‘AMIGA Rules’ magazine
Editor-in-Chief Andrey Gennadievich Andreev announces the release of the first issue of *AMIGA Rules* — the first Russian-language magazine entirely dedicated to the Amiga computer.
The reasons for creating the magazine were: the lack of high-quality Russian Amiga publications, the fragmentation of clubs, the absence of uniform software standards, and the neglect of the Amiga by other magazines.
The magazine was planned to feature sections for beginners and programmers, software reviews, a games section, news, competitions and interviews.
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Paracels / Eternity Industry congratulates Max and ALK on 3rd place at FT'98.
Paracels / Eternity Industry congratulates Max and ALK on 3rd place at FT'98, but notes they could have done better with more focus on design over code. He asks for the OBERON #5 release date, promising to contribute graphics despite being busy writing for newspaper "Trud i Zhizn" and making graphics for Buzz #16 and demo LIFEFORMS. He also asks Max to run an ad for the game "12 Secret Books" in OBERON, and to send over 4k intros, music from FT'98, Refresh & Forever.
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DIVER isn't an artist, but a converter, and submitting converted works to a GFX compo is just plain wrong
Paracels describes in detail how he exposed the artist DIVER/4D—the creator of the sensational work LOVEKIND, which took 2nd place at CC'999. Paracels, step by step: found DIVER’s weak early works in a newspaper, discovered together with his team that “PRIDE” was a direct rip-off, and found the original “LOVEKIND” by KIDLOVE/HAUJOBB in a Finnish demo from 1995–1996. Conclusion: DIVER is not an artist, but a converter, and submitting covers to a GFX compo is simply underhanded.
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DOGMA is widely recognized by the entire EI community as our best work on the ZX
Paracels regrets missing the train with Max and the crew, but his mood is great: their demo DOGMA by Eternity Industry has overshadowed everything else. The whole group agrees it's their best work yet. He urges readers to check out the promo post and get ready for something unprecedented at Russia's biggest demoparty — Chaos Constructions 2000. The P.S. is upbeat: the more competitors, the better.
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Confessions of a Talentless Artist
PARACELS drew an illustration for the New Year's issue of the floppy disk magazine Born Dead, promised to create a full-screen logo for the paper, and shared two absurdly dark holiday image ideas (a Christmas tree with a hanged man, and Death wielding a scythe in Santa's hat). The author raves about the Oberon magazine and Max's articles, invites him to visit Vladimir, talks about working on the LIFEFORMS demo, and dreams of making his own slideshow.
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Kemerovo Calling: PLAYGEAR COMPANY is Looking for Partners
Alexander, organizer and editor-in-chief of PLAYGEAR COMPANY from Kemerovo, is writing his first letter to SAGE GROUP after spotting their ad in Spectrofon issue #21. The company, just over a year old, grew out of his ZX Spectrum enthusiasm that began in 1995 when his articles on Elite were published in ZX REVIEW. The connections he made through subsequent correspondence led him to co-found PLAYGEAR COMPANY together with local hackers Daniil, Denis, and artist Artyom. The group owns several Spectrum-compatible machines (PROFI 512kb, Scorpion 256 turbo+, Pentagon 128kb) and has produced a number of programs. Alexander proposes a mutual exchange of disks and software catalogues, and invites SAGE GROUP to get in touch.
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The controversy surrounding the articles about Digital Brain in Born Dead
The authors are upset about articles published in the magazine Born Dead, believing that Digital Brain was portrayed unfairly and publicly embarrassed. They feel that the criticism and “scandalous details” insulted not only DB personally but also the entire Eternity Industry group, so they demand a public apology.
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I'm 15 years old, and I love drawing on “Art Studio 128 + Mouse”
The letter was written by a 15-year-old boy named Vlad, nicknamed “Prime,” after seeing an advertisement in the magazine Spectrofon. He describes his ZX Spectrum setup and peripherals, his interest in drawing and software, asks for a catalog of new programs, and lists the magazines and games he owns. He also mentions having the game “Mortal Combat-1” and apologizes for spelling mistakes in Russian.
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Oh dear, why on earth did I have to be born in Primorsky Krai...
BeS from Vladivostok sends Maxim a CD of unreleased tracks, asks him to keep it under wraps, dreams of getting into Enlight'98, and envies those who live closer to the center of the stage.
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This comprehensive paper was written with the aim of improving the quality of the software
BURST/FLASH/ASM writes to the leader of the Samara hackers, pointing out specific bugs: File Commander 4.04 incorrectly calculates free space, ProTracker 3.31 is glitchy, and the sound in the compiled block doesn’t match the editor. He asks that they be informed—Maxsoft and MMCM—that their software is unfinished.