How can I get zines? Out-of-print zines are sometimes sold by fans on the list, and can sometimes be found for sale at cons. There is an out-of-print lending library also. Ask Flamingo. In-print zines (and SH has quite a few) can be found at cons, and can often be purchased through the mail. Ask on the list about who has zines for sale, and you should receive current information. Zine producers are often careful about privacy issues, so the information may come through a third party. When all else fails, ask Flamingo. Subject: [VP] Good news for the Archive! Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 00:43:40 -0400 (EDT) From: AprilValen In a message dated 8/26/99 2:35:57 PM, blue_starsk wrote: <> I have to agree with Blue and Alexis and I love the way Blue phrased this. A paper zine is the *real* thing, the prize. It was very interesting when I published Swords & Senses, the Net Edition -- one of the authors picked up her trib copy and held it to her bosum sighing, "it's so much more real when it's in print!" I think it's great that we can have access to old, out of print zines on the archive, don't get me wrong. There were only so many copies of those early zines printed -- since they were done in the days before there was a xerox shop on every corner. In a small fandom like SH, 100 was a big print run. So only so many people will ever be able to get hold of these rare treasures. Today, it's so much easier to keep things in print. But I remember some editors who made a conscious decision never to reprint their zines so the originals would retain value. For those of you who've never actually seen a zine, it's hard to imagine the impact they can have. It's like finding a little bit of Starsky & Hutch right in your arms. It might have arrived in your mailbox (the snail mail one ) on a day when everything else had gone wrong. Or you could have picked it up at a convention, just managing to get the last copy off the editor's table or being lucky enough to find it more recently in a box of used zines. And if the crowd around Mysti's table when the new issue of a long-awaited Sentinel zine came out is anything to go by, zines are still certainly prized by some. It might be hard to picture them -- they can be as thick as 450 pages (huge) or small as 50-60. Full of art (when we could beg something from the wonderful artists!) and beautifully enhanced by graphics, special lettering, each one bears the stamp of it's producer. I feel a zine is a work of art in itself -- a lot of thought goes into the arrangement of the stories and how they are presented. It's more than just a few stories reformatted and printed out. They are bound in plastic spirals, staples, or perfect bound usually. And most of them are 8 1/2 by 11 in size (longer paper for the Brit zines) and there are some that are digest size (regular paper folded in half width-wize). Sure, I'd like to have stories up on a web page someday too -- although I'm not nearly as prolific as I used to be. And I enjoy reading stories on line, too. I think fandom will continue to have both kinds of fiction to experience. Fans love to communicate and they love to share and whenever a new way to communicate is found, we'll take advantage of it. The net can bring in people who'd never have found fandom at all. And zines, new or old, will *always* be more than worth the paper they're printed on. Just my thoughts... Martha