A
zine (an abbreviation of the word
fanzineA fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
, or magazine; "zeen") is most commonly a small circulation
publicationTo publish is to make content publicly known. The term is most frequently applied to the distribution of text or images on paper, or to the placing of content on a website....
of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any
self-publishedSelf-publishing is the publishing of books and other media by the authors of those works, rather than by established, third-party publishers. Although it represents a small percentage of the publishing industry in terms of sales, it has been present in one form or another since the beginning of...
work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier on a variety of colored paper stock.
A popular definition includes that circulation must be 5,000 or less, although in practice the significant majority are produced in editions of less than 100, and profit is not the primary intent of publication.
Zines are written in a variety of formats, from computer-printed text to comics to handwritten text (an example being
CometbusCometbus is a punk zine started in Berkeley, California in 1983 by Aaron Elliott. Writing under the pen name Aaron Cometbus, Elliott has self-published his usually handwritten zine for about 25 years. The name "Cometbus" was coined by Gregg Turkington during the early days of the magazine when...
). Print remains the most popular zine format, usually photo-copied with a small circulation. Topics covered are broad, including fanfiction,
politicsPolitics is a process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic and religious institutions...
, art and design, ephemera, personal journals, social theory, single topic obsession, or sexual content far enough outside of the
mainstreamMainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. However in the reality, the mainstream is far from cohesive; rather the concept is often considered a cultural construct. It is a term most often applied in the arts...
to be prohibitive of inclusion in more traditional
mediaMass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such...
. The time and materials necessary to create a zine are seldom matched by revenue from sale of zines. Small circulation zines are often not explicitly
copyrightCopyright is a form of intellectual property that gives the author of an original work exclusive right for a certain time period in relation to that work, including its publication, distribution and adaptation, after which time the work is said to enter the public domain...
ed and there is a strong belief among many zine creators that the material within should be freely distributed. In recent years a number of photocopied zines have risen to prominence or professional status and have found wide bookstore and online distribution. Highly notable among these are
Giant RobotGiant Robot is a bi-monthly magazine of Asian and Asian American popular culture founded by Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong in 1994. It was initially created as a small, punk-minded magazine that featured Asian pop culture and Asian American alternative culture, including such varied subject matter...
,
Dazed & ConfusedDazed & Confused is a British style magazine,that was set up in 1992 and published monthly. Its founding editors were Jefferson Hack and Rankin...
,
BustBust is a bi-monthly United States-based women's lifestyle magazine. It was founded in 1993 by Debbie Stoller, Laurie Henzel, and Marcelle Karp.-Content:...
,
Bitch (magazine)Bitch is a nonprofit, independent, quarterly magazine published in Portland, Oregon, that describes itself as a "Feminist response to pop culture". Articles offer a third-wave feminist perspective on current political events and social and cultural trends...
and
Maximum RocknRollMaximumrocknroll is a widely distributed, monthly not-for-profit fanzine based in San Francisco, USA. It features interviews, columns, and reviews from international contributors...
.
Origins and overview
Since the invention of the
printing pressA printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a medium , thereby transferring an image. The mechanical systems involved were first assembled in Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw-presses used to press...
(if not before), dissidents and marginalized citizens have published their own opinions in leaflet and pamphlet form.
Thomas PaineThomas Paine was an author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Born in England, Paine emigrated to the British American colonies in 1774 in time to participate in the American Revolution...
published an exceptionally popular pamphlet titled "
Common SenseCommon Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense was signed "Written by an Englishman", and the pamphlet became an immediate success. In relation to the population of the Colonies at that time,...
" that led to insurrectionary revolution. Paine is considered to be a significant early independent publisher and a zinester in his own right, but then, the
mass mediaMass media denotes a section of the media specifically designed to reach a very large audience such as the population of a nation state. The term was coined in the 1920s with the advent of nationwide radio networks, mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. However, some forms of mass media such...
as we now know it did not exist. A countless number of obscure and famous literary figures would self-publish at some time or another, sometimes as children (often writing out copies by hand), sometimes as adults.
The exact origins of the word "zine" is uncertain, but it was widely in use in the early 1970s, and most likely is a shortened version of the word "Magazine." with at least one zine lamenting the abbreviation.
The Merriam-Webster OnLine dictionary dates the word to 1965.
In the 18th century,
Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author and printer, satirist, political theorist, politician, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, soldier, and diplomat...
also started a literary magazine for psychiatric patients at a Pennsylvania hospital, which was distributed amongst the patients and hospital staff. This could be considered the first zine, since it captures the essence of the philosophy and meaning of zines. The concept of zines clearly had an ancestor in the
amateur pressAn Amateur Press Association or APA is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.-Organisation:...
movement (a major preoccupation of
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
), which would in its turn cross-pollinate with the
subcultureIn sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong...
of
science fiction fandomScience fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community of people actively interested in science fiction and fantasy literature, and in contact with one another based upon that interest...
in the 1930s.
1930s–1960s and SF
During and after the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, editors of "pulp" SF magazines became increasingly frustrated with letters detailing the impossibilities of their science fiction stories. Over time they began to publish these overly-scrutinizing letters, complete with their return addresses. This caused these fans to begin writing to each other, now complete with a mailing list for their own science fiction fanzines.
Fanzines enabled fans to write not only about
science fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction. It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature...
but about fandom itself and, in soi disant
perzinePerzines are a genre of zines; the "per" meaning "personal". Although most zines could be considered personal in that they represent the opinionated work of one person, this term describes zines that are written about one's own personal experiences, opinions and observations...
(i.e.
personal
zine), about themselves. As the
Damien BroderickDamien Francis Broderick is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer. His science fiction novel The Judas Mandala is sometimes credited with the first appearance of the term "virtual reality".Broderick holds a Ph.D...
novel
Transmitters (1984) shows, unlike other, isolated, self-publishers, the more "fannish" (fandom-oriented) fanzine publishers had a shared sensibility and at least as much interest in their relationships between fans as in the literature that inspired it.
A number of leading SF and Fantasy authors rose through the ranks of fandom, such as
Frederik PohlFrederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine if, winning the Hugo for if three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and...
and
Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov , was an American author and professor of biochemistry, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books...
.
George R. R. MartinGeorge Raymond Richard Martin , sometimes referred to as GRRM, is an American author and screenwriter of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. He is best known for his ongoing epic A Song of Ice and Fire series.-Biography:...
is also said to have started writing for Fanzines, but has been quoted condemning the practice of fans writing stories set in other authors' worlds.
1970s and punk
The
punk zineA punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....
s emerged as part of the
punkThe punk subculture is a subculture based around punk rock. It includes music, ideologies, fashion, visual art, dance, literature and film. The punk scene is composed of an assortment of smaller factions that distinguish themselves from one another through unique variations...
movement in the late 1970s. These started in the UK and the U.S.A. and by March 1977 had spread to other countries such as Ireland. Cheap photocopying had made it easier than ever for anyone who could make a band flyer to make a zine.
1980s and Factsheet Five
During the 1980s and onwards,
Factsheet FiveFactsheet Five was a periodical consisting almost exclusively of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers....
(the name came from a short story by
John BrunnerJohn Kilian Houston Brunner was a prolific British author of science fiction novels and stories. His 1968 novel Stand on Zanzibar, about an overpopulated world, won the 1968 Hugo Award for best science fiction novel. It also won the BSFA award the same year...
), originally published by Mike Gunderloy and now defunct, catalogued and reviewed any zine or small press creation sent to it, along with their mailing addresses. In doing so, it formed a networking point for zine creators and readers (usually the same people). The concept of
zine as an art form distinct from
fanzine, and of the "zinesters" as member of their own subculture, had emerged. Zines of this era ranged from perzines of all varieties to those which covered an assortment of different and obscure topics which web sites (such as
WikipediaWikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its name is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia...
) might cover today but for which no large audience existed in the pre-internet era.
1990s and riot grrrl
The early 1990s
riot grrrlRiot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement that started in the early 1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism . However, riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave...
scene encouraged an explosion of zines of a more raw and explicit, more confrontational and definitely more gender-balanced nature citation needed(until this time, males tended to make up the majority of zinesterscitation needed). Following this, zines enjoyed a brief period of attention from conventional media and a number of zines were collected and published in book form, such as
Donna KossyDonna J. Kossy is a U.S. writer and zine publisher based in Portland, Oregon. Specialized in the history of "forgotten, discredited and extreme ideas", which she calls "crackpotology and kookology", she is better known for her books Kooks: A Guide to the Outer Limits of Human Belief Donna J. Kossy...
's
Kooks Magazine (1988–1991), published as
Kooks (1994,
Feral HouseFeral House is a book publisher owned and operated by Adam Parfrey. The publisher itself describes the books it sells as "pure information", and says the topics of the books are "forbidden".Feral House was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Los Angeles....
).
Decline and websites
Zines faded from public awareness in the late 1990s. It can be argued that this was the natural course of a declining
fadIn biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide is a redox cofactor involved in several important reactions in metabolism. FAD can exist in two different redox states and its biochemical role usually involves changing between these two states...
, though it can also be stated with some justification that the sudden growth of the
internetThe Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standardized Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
, and the ability of private web-pages to fulfill much the same role of personal expression, was a stronger contributor to their pop culture expiration. Indeed, many zines were transformed into websites, such as Boingboing.
After 1997, now out of the limelight, zines have been adopted by those particularly attached to the print medium; for artistic expressions not replicable on a computer, functional purposes or for subcultural reasons.citation needed
DIY and blogs
Zines continue to be popular. Currently "zines" are important to the
Do-It-YourselfThe DIY ethic refers to the ethic of being self-reliant by completing tasks oneself as opposed to having others who are more experienced or able complete them for you. It promotes the idea that an ordinary person can learn to do more than he or she thought was possible...
(DIY) movement. Recently galvanizing social issues such as
globalizationGlobalization describes an ongoing process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and exchange....
,
environmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the state of the environment...
, media conglomeration, American
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
and
consumerismConsumerism is the equation of personal happiness with consumption and the purchase of material possessions. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen or, more recently by a movement called Enoughism...
have been addressed within the pages of zines. citation needed. Not all zines endorse a particular ideology and aren't necessarily inherently political.
Distribution and circulation
Zines are sold through many different outlets, from zine symposiums and publishing fairs to record stores, book stores, at concerts, independent media outlets, zine 'distros' and via mail order. They are also sold online either via websites or social networking profiles.
Zines which are distributed for free are either traded directly between zinesters or given away at the outlets mentioned.
Webzines are to be found in many places on the Internet.
Publishing
Whilst zines are generally self-published, there are a few quality publishers who specialise in making quality zines. One of the main 'art-zine' publishers, who also publish books is
Nieves Books in Zurich, editor in Chief is Benjamin Sommerhalder. Another is
Café Royal, UK based and founded by
Craig Atkinson in 2005.
Distributors
Zines are most often obtained through mailorder distributors. There are many catalogued and online based mailorder distros for zines. Some of the longer running and more stable operations include
Last Gasp in San Francisco,
Parcell Press in Philadelphia,
Microcosm PublishingMicrocosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Portland, Oregon and Bloomington, Indiana. They distribute ideas through zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, videos, and more. They publish zine and book works by others in the hopes that...
in Bloomington, IN,
Loop Distro in Chicago,
Great Worm Express Distribution in Toronto, and in the UK
Café Royal zines + underground press and
CornDog Publishing in Ipswich. Zine distros often have websites which you can place orders on. Because these are small scale DIY projects run by an individual or small group, they often close after only a short time of operation. Those that have been around the longest are often the most dependable.
Bookstores
Several bookstores stock zines. Notable examples include
Polyester Books in Melbourne, Australia;
Cafe Royal in the UK; Reading Frenzy and Powell's in Portland, OR; Needles and Pens in San Francisco; Quimby's in Chicago; Mac's Backs Paperbacks in Cleveland, OH; Arise Books in Minneapolis;
Boxcar BooksBoxcar Books is a non-profit, cooperatively-run bookstore located in Bloomington, Indiana next to the Runcible Spoon Restaurant. Its mission is "to promote reading, self-education, social equality, and social welfare through increased accessibility to literature and workshops - and the promotion...
in Bloomington, IN; Wooden Shoe Books in Philadelphia;
Civic Media CenterThe Civic Media Center is an alternative library and reading room in Gainesville, Florida, United States. The CMC is a 501 non-profit organization funded by offering yearly memberships to access the substantial resources housed within the space and donations from friends and members alike...
in Gainesville, FL;
Bluestockings in NYC; Five in Charleston, SC; Brian MacKenzie Infoshop in Washington, DC; and Book Beat & Co. in Oklahoma City, OK.
Zinestores
Sticky Institute in Melbourne, Australia is unique internationally amongst zine outlets, being a not for profit Artist Run Initiative dedicated solely to the distribution of zines.
Libraries
A number of major public and academic
librariesA library is a collection of sources, resources, and services, and the structure in which it is housed; it is organized for use and maintained by a public body, an institution, or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, a library is a collection of books. It can mean the collection,...
carry zines and other small press publications, often with a specific focus (e.g. women's studies) or those that are relevant to a local region.
In Australia there is:
- the Copy & Destroy Zine Library at the Visible Ink Valley space, Brisbane, Queensland
- the Caboolture Library Zine Collection, Caboolture, Queensland
- the Women’s House Library Zine Collection at the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre, Brisbane, Queensland
- the Octapod Association Zine Library, Newcastle, New South Wales
- the Susan Smith-Clarke Fanzine Collection at the National Library of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
- the ACT Heritage Library Zine Collection, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
- the State Library of Victoria Zine Collection, Melbourne, Victoria
- the City Library Zine Collection, Melbourne, Victoria
- the Monash University Library Zine Collection, Melbourne, Victoria
In Canada, there is:
- Bibliograph/e in Montréal
- the Toronto Zine Library (Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave. Toronto, ON)
- the Welland Zine Library (11 Ascot Ct., Welland Ontario, Canada, L3C 6K7)
- the Anchor Archive Zine Library (5684 Roberts Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)
- the Hamilton Zine Library (27 King William St Hamilton Ontario)
In the UK:
Notable U.S.A. public and academic library zine collections include:
- Fales Library
NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections houses nearly 200,000 volumes, and of archive and manuscript materials. It contains the Fales Collection of rare books and manuscripts in English and American literature, the Downtown Collection, the Food and Cookery Collection, and the general Special...
at NYU, Link to the Fales Library
- the Salt Lake City Public Library
- Multnomah County Library
Multnomah County Library is a public library system that serves the entire population of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. With a history that dates back to 1864, the system currently has 17 library locations with books, magazines, DVDs, Internet computers and more...
in Portland
- the San Francisco Public Library
- the Ypsilanti District Library in Ypsilanti, Michigan
- Barnard College Library
- DePaul University Library http://library.depaul.edu/Collections/resourceList.aspx?t=202
- The original Factsheet Five collection at the New York State Library
The New York State Library is part of the New York State Education Department. The Library and its sister institutions, the New York State Museum and New York State Archives, are housed in the Cultural Education Center...
in Albany, New YorkAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/
- The Sarah Dyer
Sarah Dyer is a comic book writer and artist with roots in the zine movement of the late eighties and early nineties.-Biography:Dyer was born in Louisiana, went to college in Gainesville, Florida and then moved to New York City...
Collection at Duke University
- The West Coast Zine Collection at the San Diego State University Library
The U.S.A. also has a number of libraries devoted entirely to zine production and/or archiving, including:
- the ABC No Rio Zine Library in New York
- the Chicago Underground Library
The Chicago Underground Library is a collection focusing on material produced by small presses or independent publishers in the Chicago area. The collection includes zines, comics, perfect-bound novels, chapbooks, newsletters, art books, magazines and pamphlets, with an emphasis on inclusivity and...
- the Denver Zine Library
- the Zine Archive and Publishing Project in Seattle, Washington
- the Olympia Zine Library, housed in Last Word Books in Olympia, Washington
- the Papercut Zine Library
The Papercut Zine Library is a collectively-run zine library located near Harvard Square, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded in May 2005. Its collection now numbers over 12,000 volumes, consisting mostly of zines but also of other independent media. The library has also served as a venue...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts
- the Independent Publishing Resource Center, a Portland, Oregon zine library and resource for writing and distributing zines.
Zine events
In Australia there is:
In Canada, there is:
In France there is:
In Germany there is:
In the United Kingdom, there are:
In the United States, there is:
alt.zines
The
UsenetUsenet, a portmanteau of "user" and "network" , is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It evolved from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name....
newsgroupA usenet newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users in different locations. The term may be confusing to some, because it is usually a discussion group. Newsgroups are technically distinct from, but functionally similar to, discussion forums on...
alt.zines was created in 1992 by Jerod Pore and Edward Vielmetti for the discussion of
zineA zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images...
s and zine-related topics. Since that time, alt.zines has seen more than 26,000 postings.
From the original alt.zines charter: "alt.zines is a place for reviews of zines, announcements of new zines, tips on how to make zines, discussions of the culture of zines, news about zines, specific zines and related stuff."
"Related stuff" has included almost everything under the sun. Throughout the 1990s alt.zines was really the only forum for zinesters to promote, talk, and discuss small publishing issues and tips. And of course argue. It was a place where a
zineA zine is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images...
reader or first time publisher could rub elbows with infamous zinesters. Some of the more infamous alt.zines personalities have included R. Seth Friedman, Rev. Randall Tin-Ear,
Doug HollandDoug Holland played guitar for hardcore punk bands Kraut and the Cro-Mags.He was also a bartender at the A7 in New York City in the early 1980s.-References:*Blush, Steven . American Hardcore. Los Angeles: Feral House. ISBN 0-9229-15-717-7....
, Jeff Kay, "Ninjalicious" (AKA Jeff Chapman), Sky Ryan, Tim Brown, Josh Saitz, Dan Halligan, Heath Row,
Jeff KoyenJeff Koyen, born in 1969 in suburban New Jersey, is an American journalist and screenwriter living in Brooklyn. He is a graduate of Rutgers University...
, Bob Conrad, Jen Angel, Seth Robson,
Karl WenclasKarl "King" Wenclas is a founder and the former Publicity Director and front man of the Underground Literary Alliance...
, Asha Anderson, Emerson Dameron, Jerod Pore,
Jim GoadJames Thaddeus "Jim" Goad is an American author and publisher, noted for the controversy surrounding his magazine ANSWER Me!...
, Cullen Carter, Steen Sigmund, Darby Romeo,
Jim HogshireJames Frederick Hogshire is a counterculture author of magazine articles, short stories, and a number of books...
,
Debbie GoadDebra "Debbie" Goad was assistant editor of the magazine ANSWER Me!.-Biodata:She was born as Debra Susan Rosalie in Brooklyn, New York. Her husband, Jim Goad, was the magazine's primary writer and editor...
, Cali Macvayia, Don Fitch, Jeff Potter, Joel McClemore,
Kris KaneKris Kane is a Scottish field hockey player, who was a member of the national squad that finished 8th in the 2003 European Nations Cup in Barcelona. The goalkeeper plays for Western Wildcats, and has won five Scottish National League titles and four Scottish Cups...
, Marc Parker, Paul T. Olson, Robert W. Howington, Sean Guillory, Ruel Gaviola,
Jeff Somers-Literary career:Since 1995, Somers has published his zine The Inner Swine and has been a prolific contributor to alt.zines. The 21st century has seen Somers's transformation from an observational essayist into a science fiction writer of no small talent, "a gifted craftsman" with a "funky wit." ...
,
Tom HendricksTom Hendricks is an American eccentric Dallas-based musician, painter, writer, and creator of a zine called Musea.-Musea:The Musea zine has been published since 1992 and currently has 150 issues. It includes reviews, art discussions, and often, articles about the problems with music and other...
, Chip Rowe, Brent Ritzel and Shaun Richman.
While today there are many other online forums for zinesters and traffic on alt.zines has slowed down dramatically since the zinester flame wars of yesteryear, alt.zines remains one of the most influential places on the web for zine publishers and readers alike. Many long-time alt.zines participants now contribute to
ZineWikiZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.-History:...
.
Zines in fiction
The main character of a Canadian television show produced by the CBC called
Our HeroOur Hero is a critically acclaimed television show on the CBC from 2000 to 2002. It ran for 26 episodes over two seasons, and was syndicated in the U.S. and U.K....
, Kale Stiglic (
Cara PifkoCara Pifko is a Canadian actress known primarily for her work on television shows produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation....
) created her own zine.
Damien BroderickDamien Francis Broderick is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer. His science fiction novel The Judas Mandala is sometimes credited with the first appearance of the term "virtual reality".Broderick holds a Ph.D...
's novel
Transmitters follows a small group of Australian science fiction fans through their lives over several decades.
PasticheA pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre that is a "hodge-podge" or an imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
s of fanzine writing (from fictitious fanzines) form some of the text of the novel.
Set in the 80s and 90s zine heyday,
Walking Man by Tim W. Brown is a comic novel written in the form of a scandalous tell-all biography that portrays the life and times of Brian Walker, publisher of the zine
Walking Man, who rises from humble origins to become the most famous zinester in America.
In the novel
Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger, the main character John begins writing a zine called
Bananafish after reading other people's zines he found at Tower Records. One of these zines is written by a girl named Marisol who writes a zine called
Escape Velocity. After reading her zine, John decides to meet her and their friendship grows from there.
Lunch Money, a children's book by Andrew Clements, has sixth-grader Greg Kenton creating and selling mini comic books, as a way to make money, which leads to one of his classmates making her own publication.
In the Nickelodeon cartoon show
Rocket PowerRocket Power is an American animated cartoon that aired from August 16, 1999 until July 30, 2004 on Nickelodeon. It is the thirteenth Nicktoon overall.-Premise:...
, one of main cast characters, Reggie, publishes her own zine about action sports.
Tales of a Punk Rock Nothing is a semi-fictional depiction of the
anarcho-punkThe term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
and
riot grrrlRiot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement that started in the early 1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism . However, riot grrrl's emphasis on universal female identity and separatism often appears more closely allied with second-wave feminism than with the third wave...
scene in early 90s Washington, DC.
See also
- List of zine distros
- Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
- Perzine
Perzines are a genre of zines; the "per" meaning "personal". Although most zines could be considered personal in that they represent the opinionated work of one person, this term describes zines that are written about one's own personal experiences, opinions and observations...
- Samizdat
Samizdat was a key form of dissident activity across the Soviet-bloc; individuals reproduced censored publications by hand and passed the documents from reader to reader, thus building a foundation for the successful resistance of the 1980s...
- Ezine
- Punk zine
A punk zine is a zine devoted to punk culture, most often punk rock music, bands, or the DIY punk ethic. Punk zines are the most likely place to find punk literature....
- ZineWiki
ZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.-History:...
- Minicomic
A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term "small press comic" is equivalent with minicomic reserved for those publications measuring A6 or less...
- List of minicomics creators
- Webzine
- Amateur press association
An Amateur Press Association or APA is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.-Organisation:...
- Hugo Award for Best Fanzine
The Hugo Award for Best Fanzine is given annually to fanzines. These are amateur magazines for science fiction/fantasy-related subject, which do not pay their contributors. Fanzines are generally produced out of the love of the genre, its authors, books and films...
- United Fanzine Organization
- Cometbus
Cometbus is a punk zine started in Berkeley, California in 1983 by Aaron Elliott. Writing under the pen name Aaron Cometbus, Elliott has self-published his usually handwritten zine for about 25 years. The name "Cometbus" was coined by Gregg Turkington during the early days of the magazine when...
- Chapbook
Chapbook is a generic term to cover a particular genre of pocket-sized booklet, popular from the sixteenth through to the later part of the nineteenth century. No exact definition can be applied....
- Comics
Comics is a graphic medium in which images are utilized in order to convey a sequential narrative; the term, derived from massive early use to convey comic themes, came to be applied to all uses of this medium including those which are far from comic...
- Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...
- Artist's book
Books and Films about zines
- Bartel, Julie. From A to Zine: Building a Winning Zine Collection in Your Library. American Library Association, 2004.
- Biel, Joe A hundred dollars and a T-shirt: A Documentary About Zines in Portland. Microcosm Publishing, 2004, 2005, 2008 (Video)
- Block, Francesca Lia
Francesca Lia Block is the author of many young adult books, most famously the Weetzie Bat series. Block wrote her first book, Weetzie Bat, while a student at UC Berkeley; it was published in 1989 by Harper Collins. She is known for her use of imagery, especially in describing the city of Los...
and Hillary CarlipHillary Carlip is an American author, screenwriter, and artist.As an author, her memoir , which Publishers Weekly called “Fresh and funny…hilarious and heartbreaking,” received good reviews, and is an American Bookseller's Association Book Sense Pick, chosen by independent bookstores throughout...
. Zine Scene: The Do It Yourself Guide to Zines. Girl Press, 1998.
- Brent, Bill. Make a Zine!. Black Books, 1997 (1st edn.), ISBN 0-9637401-4-8. Microcosm Publishing
Microcosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Portland, Oregon and Bloomington, Indiana. They distribute ideas through zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, videos, and more. They publish zine and book works by others in the hopes that...
, with Biel, Joe, 2008 (2nd edn.), ISBN 978-1934620069.
- Brown, Tim W. Walking Man, A Novel. Bronx River Press, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9789847-0-0.
- Duncombe, Stephen. Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture. Microcosm Publishing, 1997, 2008. ISBN 1-85984-158-9.
- Kennedy, Pagan. Zine: How I Spent Six Years of My Life in the Underground and Finally...Found Myself...I Think (1995) ISBN 0-312-13628-5.
- Spencer, Amy. DIY: The Rise of Lo-Fi Culture. Marion Boyars Publishers, Ltd., 2005.
- Watson, Esther and Todd, Mark. "Watcha Mean, What's a Zine?" Graphia, 2006. ISBN 978-0618563159.
- Vale, V. Zines! Volume 1 (RE/Search
RE/Search Publications is a United States magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. RE/Search itself began...
, 1996) ISBN 0-9650469-0-7.
- Vale, V. Zines! Volume 2 (RE/Search
RE/Search Publications is a United States magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. RE/Search itself began...
, 1996) ISBN 0-9650469-2-3.
- Wrekk, Alex
Alex Wrekk is the pen-name for a well-known Portland, Oregon, DIY, feminist, zinester. The self-published artist contributed to the zine community with her book, Stolen Sharpie Revolution and her ongoing zine, Brainscan....
. Stolen Sharpie Revolution. Portland: Microcosm PublishingMicrocosm Publishing is an independent publisher and distributor based in Portland, Oregon and Bloomington, Indiana. They distribute ideas through zines, books, pamphlets, stickers, buttons, patches, t-shirts, posters, videos, and more. They publish zine and book works by others in the hopes that...
, 2003. ISBN 0-9726967-2-5.
External links