Once upon a time in fandom
May. 6th, 2010 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
neadodsOnce 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.)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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?"
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?"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 09:06 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 10:51 am (UTC)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.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-08 12:06 pm (UTC)I can certainly understand that! Being there, doing that, too. Good luck!