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

[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!

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yes, you did! I remember it surprisingly well, considering how crap my memory usually is.

Y'know, last time you were over, I forgot to give you the Dangling Prussians. Still want 'em?

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

Sure, though no rush. I can always send them to Iowa now....

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Oo, er; I did it as part of Fan Preservation Project:

http://transformativeworks.org/node/694

Check that out, it should help you with info on the How Tos of donating.

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you! I've reached the time of life where I'd rather get rid of stuff than acquire more, and it's so much easier to shed things that once meant a lot to you if you know they're going to a good home.

I may not do it soon but I've definitely noted that website for the future. And it sounds like they take newsletters and associated stuff as well as zines. (And they even pay for shipping!)

[maureen-the-mad.livejournal.com]

Hey, I met Nea at MediaWest!

So did I! After meeting online first. And even my fannish friends looked a little askance at me when I told them I was going to move in with a roommate I mostly knew from an email mailing list. But she hasn't murdered me in my sleep yet, so after 9 years, I think I'm safe...

[not-hathor.livejournal.com]

Me too, at least in person.... I'd bought 'zines (through the mail) from her and a mutual friend mentioned that she might need a room mate for MediaWest.... so, I wrote her a 'fan' letter, something along the lines of "you don't know me, but I'm your biggest fan....", and then I joined APAritions....

I'd say it worked out pretty well, over all. No MWC for me again this year (bought a new car instead), but might manage TARDIS CON again; give me time to catch up on my WHO so I don't feel as much like an imposter this year....

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I'd love to roommate again. I promise not to get sick this year!

Ah, APAritions. Back in the pre-computer days...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Ditto here. There were some people raising eyebrows, but I haven't disappeared in the night yet...

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I don't want to get rid of most of them - with the exception of my return to BatB, they're the ones that have already survived several winnowings out and thus are my favorites. Or have my own writing.

Still, it's worth noting that U of Iowa takes them. I should research that and stick an addendum on my will.