Fanfiction and Me
This is a link to an article I wrote for Black Gate on how I found fanfic and early Star Wars fanzines: Fanfiction and Me: http://www.blackgate.com/2014/10/22/fanfiction-and-me/
The editor's young daughter is very much into fanfiction and he was getting tired of seeing negative articles about it.
Excerpt: I was introduced to fanfiction after The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, when I was around fifteen. This was long before the internet, and fanfic was printed in fanzines, fan-produced magazines that were mimeographed or xeroxed, or if the editor could afford it, offset printed. But finding them, if you didn’t already know someone who knew about them, was nearly impossible.
As a lonely, feral, anxiety-ridden, teenage fan, my only connection to the fandom world at all was Starlog magazine. Back then, Starlog was a lifeline for me, and it not only featured articles and news about TV shows, movies, and books, but also fan groups and conventions. (I chose the university I went to because Starlog had an article that mentioned its student SF/F club and convention, but that’s another story.)
The magazine also had a section of small cheap personal ads in the back for fan-related merchandise. One issue a fanzine called Facets, dedicated to fanfic about Harrison Ford’s various characters (mostly Han Solo and Indiana Jones) bought an ad, and I sent my money in (I don’t remember how much, probably less than $10) and bought a couple of small fanzines.
I was hooked. The back of each fanzine was filled with ads and flyers for other Star Wars fanzines, and I dived in and ordered more.
The editor's young daughter is very much into fanfiction and he was getting tired of seeing negative articles about it.
Excerpt: I was introduced to fanfiction after The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, when I was around fifteen. This was long before the internet, and fanfic was printed in fanzines, fan-produced magazines that were mimeographed or xeroxed, or if the editor could afford it, offset printed. But finding them, if you didn’t already know someone who knew about them, was nearly impossible.
As a lonely, feral, anxiety-ridden, teenage fan, my only connection to the fandom world at all was Starlog magazine. Back then, Starlog was a lifeline for me, and it not only featured articles and news about TV shows, movies, and books, but also fan groups and conventions. (I chose the university I went to because Starlog had an article that mentioned its student SF/F club and convention, but that’s another story.)
The magazine also had a section of small cheap personal ads in the back for fan-related merchandise. One issue a fanzine called Facets, dedicated to fanfic about Harrison Ford’s various characters (mostly Han Solo and Indiana Jones) bought an ad, and I sent my money in (I don’t remember how much, probably less than $10) and bought a couple of small fanzines.
I was hooked. The back of each fanzine was filled with ads and flyers for other Star Wars fanzines, and I dived in and ordered more.
No comments have been added yet.
