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Fanzine Fandom
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In keeping with my continuing series: I Didn’t Write a Blog Entry But Here’s Something Else I Wrote I refer you today to an article I penned (well, “keyboarded?”...I didn’t want three “writes” in the same sentence. But now I have got them anyway...) for an sf fanzine, Catchpenny Gazette # 7

If you’ve read this blog for awhile you might be asking yourself, what is an sf fanzine? Is this something as popular as the author’s other interests, like orienteering and computer text adventures? Does it have the same mass appeal as, say, a Byzantine eunuch detective? Indeed. And maybe even less.

Which explains, I suppose, why I was heavily involved in sf fanzine fandom for nearly fifteen years back in the seventies and early eighties.

Please note, this “sf fandom” I’m talking about has nothing to do with Star Trek or even sci-fi literature for that matter. (Besides those things are popular, no?) It’s more to do with publishing for fun. Just fun. Not to deliver a message to the world, or prove you’re an Author, or a Poet, or pretend you are. It has nothing to do with aspiring to get published, like so many amateur magazines and writers’ venues. And half the time the sf fanzines don’t even mention sf.

Which is why, maybe, fanzine fandom is the better term. Because its all about the fanzines. Yeah, it’s a fandom about itself.. Or something like that...You could take a look at The Fanac Fan History Project or Truefen.net to get an idea.

Fanzines used to be commonly published on mimeos (I used ditto masters). Today electronic pdf zines are becoming popular. David Burton’s Catchpenny Gazette # 7 which is up at eFanzines is a good example. My article is the first I’ve done for a fanzine for well over a decade. It actually isn’t so much an article as my explanation of why I can’t write fan articles anymore (sort of the same as blogs...) and, as such, is probably inexplicable to anybody who hasn’t been an sf fan. However the other contents are more interesting, particularly Dave Locke’s (one of my favorite fanwriters) encounter with a squirrel.

If you’re not familiar with sf fanzines you might want to check it out. If you are familiar, why haven’t you downloaded the issue yet?



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