Once upon a time in fandom

[neadods]

Once upon a time, when the world was younger and I was younger still, the only way to get fanfiction that you hadn't written yourself was to buy a zine, and the only way to buy a zine was to go to conventions.

And THE convention for zines, no matter what your fandom was, was Media*West. I'd save every penny I had - at $20 a pop, the money went fast. (That's why it was more than an ego rush to get published yourself. It was one less copy to have to buy!) And the zines went even faster - back in the very early days, when many of the zines still smelled of corflu and the accepted practice was to print all the copies up front on spec - print runs were small and zines could sell out on Thursday night before the con even opened. (Then fandom got savvier but print runs got even smaller, because things went to print on demand and it was even harder to get copies.)

boogiebabe_smap and I would take zerox boxes and try to fill them up with what we found in the dealer's room and the hall crawl and our comp copies, and no matter how many I got, I'd read all through them before the end of June and couldn't imagine how I'd wait until next Memorial Day for my fix.

I often get nostalgic about the way fandom was right before Media*West. I'm finding myself particularly nostalgic this year.

This year, when I'm not driving to Michigan for the first time in over 20 years.

This year... when I'm boxing up all the old zines and putting them in the basement. Oh, I'm not getting rid of them. Whoever executes my will is going to have to figure out what to do with all those old Real Ghostbuster and KF-TLC zines, not to mention the pile of Beauty and the Beast ones that's double my not-insignificant body weight.

But I'm doing a lot of cleaning and a lot of pruning, and the brutal truth is, I haven't read fanfiction on paper in almost a decade now. These days the question isn't "how do I find shelf space for the new zines?" it's "how do I get fanfic from the internet onto my ipod touch?"

Comments

[ziggychaos.livejournal.com]

OMG!! The Fanzine Feeding Frenzy at MediaWest Con!! In those days, it was Quantum Leap and Star Wars for me!

Geez, does THAT bring back memories!!

The one good thing about fanzines was fanfic was edited for grammar and such (if you had a good editor). I'm not saying all online fanfic is crappy (most of what I've seen is pretty decent), but I've see an awful lot that could use a beta-reader!

I take it you're not going this year?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It was nice when someone else did the editing... but I've been known to do some of that m'self before I put fic on my palm pilot.

Not going. Didn't go to Malice. Not even planning on Shore Leave, although if the Masq director badges me in I'll go for the day to work. It's the year of no cons; I'm taking all that time off and money and putting it into getting the inside of the house fixed up. My last con was ChicagoTARDIS last year and the next one will be ChicagoTARDIS this year.

[dameruth.livejournal.com]

Wow. I would have been so into that sort of thing if it'd been anywhere close to where I lived, back then. As it is, I have boxes and boxes of apa zines, since the PO was my only means of contacting other fans.

*is nostalgic*

I wonder if there are any groups working on scanning/transcribing paper fic for the purposes of putting it online? Seems like a worthy cause . . .

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There are discussions of it, and some zines, like Manifest, are being taken online by their original editors.

But there are some authors who fight against that, and sometimes I'm one of them. There are things that I don't want google-able to my name; that is not the deal I made with the cosmos when I wrote that story for a 150-issue zine that could only be found by other fans.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

That may have been me; I had all my 10th Kingdom fanfic on my palm. And then the palm died.

I haven't even connected my touch to the Internet yet. Floundering my way along...

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Oh god, there was one year where I'd promised 7 or 8 editors stories and went completely cold until late February. I think I was writing up until the last possible minute. THAT was an all time record haul.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Ah, the days... I remember when it flowed out of the fingers. I miss them.

[cyprinella]

it's "how do I get fanfic from the internet onto my ipod touch?"

I use Calibre to convert either html webpages I've saved or the text that I've copied over to RTF to the right format for my ereader. I believe it might do ipod files?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I need to do more research. I know there is a way...

[sadbhyl.livejournal.com]

I only got to go to M*W once, and I only lived two hours from the damn thing. I ended up purging most of my print zines, although I did keep a couple of SW and DW issues. My pride and joy is a DW zine with a Four&Leela story by Peter David. Someday I'm going to get that man to sign it...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

He will. I've got a signed copy of his The TARDIS at Pooh Corner.

Two hours - what I would have done for such a short commute! It's over a day when I do it alone, and last year I was almost in a terrible accident. Another reason why I'm not sure I miss it this year.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Email him at padguy@aol.com and ask where you can mail it. Send it with a prepaid SASE and he'll be happy to do it.

[fandance.livejournal.com]

I remember my friends telling me about MediaWest in the early 80s and how I decided I simply had to go, and I loved it. I went for many years during the 80s ... I went for the parties and the panels and the dealers rooms and the friends ... and then lots of life happened and I've only gone once in the last decade. I have a small stack of zines now, and (blush) still haven't read through them all ... MediaWest provided many of my fondest memories of being fannish. A few highlights - the Remington Steele soires, the Twin Peaks scavenger hunt (organized by Kathy and me), scavenger hunts dreamed up by other people, the video room (oh my god, remember California Crew?!), the room door decorating contests - so much fun.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I remember CaliCrew - I still have most of their tapes!

Would you believe that last year the entire vid contest - straight and slash - was a whopping 5 vids? The Internet has slaughtered M*W.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

The last few years I went, a friend was running the door decorating contest & invited me to be a judge. *That* was a lot of fun!

[ponygirl72.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow-- 'zines. I've got two giant boxes of 'zines in the back closet. I'm sure if I knew how much money they represented in total, I'd want to spork my eyes out.

But I can't get rid of them. *sigh*

Interestingly, I got the vast majority of mine via snail mail mailing lists. Those were the days, all right...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I haven't checked recently, but at one point, American ebay was a pretty good place to sell zines. I bought quite a few when I was briefly back in BatB fandom.

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

It's been years since I've attended M*West, but I remember it fondly. I remember bringing a smaller suitcase packed with clothing tucked inside a larger suitcase so that I could stuff that second case with zines--that was the year of the stack of zines three feet high! I dragged my husband to Media*West as part of our honeymoon about 19 years ago because there was *no way* I was going to miss it... which reminds me, my anniversary is in a couple of weeks.

Have you thought about donating your zines to the University of Iowa? I did, and I have to say it felt really good watching them go to a good home.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

More details, please, on donating zines to a good cause. Once I can get them out the back of the closet....

MediaWest... those were some good old days.

Hey, I met Nea at MediaWest!

[renn.livejournal.com]

Ah, Mediawest. I went several times in the early 90's, even had a dealers table one year for zines I put out. (That would be "I've Leaped And I Can't Get Up" and "Chinese Take-Away", both humor zines.) Once I had a kid, though, it became impractical for me to go. And then all fanfiction popped up on the Internet, and print zines became dinosaurs. (I eventually disposed of all the zines I had in which I didn't have stories-- to deserving fans, of course.)

[neadods.livejournal.com]

You did those zines? I still have 'em!

[zinelady.livejournal.com]

I miss Media West. I've only missed twice in the past 20 years, both when I've been in New Zealand. I'm going to miss again this year.

The first and second years I went I stayed with Bill and Ann Hupe at their house. Bill had tons of zines, literally. I'm not sure how many bookshelves he had full of zines, but I spent a lot of time when I wasn't at the con in his basement reading Star Trek and Blakes 7 zines.

The third year, John and the girls went with me and we stayed at a hotel across the street at the old Holiday Inn. I finally got into the Holiday Inn the fourth year. I remember the year they double booked a wedding for MWC and what a pain it was to have panels in the swimming pool area. I loved the pool area for swimming, but not fully dressed, especially in costume.

I miss the old Dennys. It was so much fun going there late at night for ice cream. They always were so welcoming to the con attendees.

And the parties...I miss having our Quantum Leap parties. And going to the Tarrant Teas, the Remington Steele soirees, Man From Uncle and Stargate parties.

I miss the zines as well. I remember bringing Oh Boys to the con in boxes and going back home with the boxes filled with zines that I picked up in the dealer's room or room dealers.

I don't know when I'll be able to come back to MWC next year. I guess it depends on whether we come back to the States.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I remember the year they double booked a wedding for MWC and what a pain it was to have panels in the swimming pool area.

Ah, yes, the year the hotel went feral... I remember it well!

Last year the hotel was under new management, and they didn't have a clue. It's another reason why I'm not too sorry to skip this year.

ETA - whether I go back next year is going to depend on a bunch of other things, mainly if I have the money.

[mechturtle.livejournal.com]

"how do I get fanfic from the internet onto my ipod touch?"

I came across Radishface's post (http://radishface.livejournal.com/121765.html) (via metafandom I think) that had some suggestions. I've had the same problems mentioned in the comments about Stanza not keeping italics formatting. Currently I use the app Instapaper Free (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=288545208&mt=8) (their main page (http://www.instapaper.com)) for web pages with fic, finding and saving them while my Touch is on-line.

And since you're a audiobook fan, there's also podfic (http://audiofic.jinjurly.com), though I'm not sure how wide the Dr. Who selection is.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Ooooo!

There's lindenharp's series of drabbles about the year on the Valiant. That's getting turned into podfic.

[starmalachite.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear you won't be doing Balticon or Shore Leave this year, since it means I probably won't see you in person anytime soon. MD RenFest, perhaps, Unless you'll be doing MD Fairy Festival next weekend (I wouldn't be there myself, but my dance group's performing.) But then it's nothing new in fandom to only see people who live < 50 miles away at cons.

And I envy your strength of will. One-con-a-year pretty much drove me nuts back when there are no alternatives. Even with the net, face time with my peeps several times a year keeps me much more functional the rest of the time.

I too remember those days of print zines only. And no SF all over the tube; maybe 1 program on 1 channel -- if you were lucky. And if it wasn't unwatchable dreck like Buck Rogers. And, worst of all, *no internet*.

There's a lot I miss about those days, but on the whole I'll take the present.

I haven't been to MediaWest since Balticon moved to the same weekend. I really miss it, because it's the last surviving outpost of what fandom was like when I made contact back in the 70s. My hubby has never been, but is willing, bless him, to skip Balticon one of these years. The 1st year there's no must-see writer or actual seldom-seen friend on the guest list, I plan on heading back to Michigan.

Edited for clarity.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

One-con-a-year pretty much drove me nuts back when there are no alternatives

Thing is, there are now. There's online, and I've got local fan friends, and there are a bunch of things to see and do without the extra costs of hotel or interstate travel. So that's keeping me from climbing the walls.

I remember the days before the personal computer, and yet looking back myself I'm gobsmacked how we survived before the Internet!

The 1st year there's no must-see writer or actual seldom-seen friend on the guest list

Heh - good luck with that! There's someone I'd like to see this year, but my wavering resolve has held firm; I can do the con or I can do more on the house. And I really, REALLY want to get the house done this year.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

I know you're probably not interested, but just in case: there are a few RGB zines that I'm looking for to complete my collection. Gimme a shout if you'd like to raise a little more in the way for funds for your kitchen project!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I hadn't intended on selling any, but... Which ones are you looking for?

[fyrdrakken]

My first fandom was a flavor of Star Trek, so there were indeed zines (though not many) and I went to MW*C to meet up with some fellow fans, and I bought some zines (at MW*C but mostly online) and was kind of suprised and disappointed a few fandoms later when no one did zines at all.

Though that was before I'd really gotten to grips with the essential truth of my own fannish involvement -- that I obsess for a few years and then move on and don't really involve myself with the prior fandoms anymore. (I mean, I'll watch the new canon as it comes along, but the real love is gone and I'm just not invested in it anymore.) And digital media I can save for years, no problem, but zines take up space -- and I'm not likely to ever read them again, so. (Still got a few zines over at my grandmother's house. When I have to clear all of my own stuff out of there, I think I'll hang on to the one or two I got contributor's copies of and trash the rest.)

A week or three back someone was polling on fannish reading habits and I found myself thinking out loud regarding her question about fannish vs. non-fannish reading and print vs. online reading: I like reading books and can't make myself finish reading e-books (no Kindle for me), I like reading fanfic (even unto novel-length) and happily reread even long favorites but never print them out and don't really care to have zines taking up shelf space. There's some weird mental thing going on there that expects pro fic to be printed and bound but fanfic to be digital.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

There's some weird mental thing going on there that expects pro fic to be printed and bound but fanfic to be digital.

I've swung back the other way after losing a lot of my 10K fanfic in the palm pilot crash.