So-called
fanzines (short for "fan magazines") have come a very long way since their earliest sci-fi origins. In the early 1980s, Mike Gunderloy, a music aficionado, writer, and zine collector, began to organize and provide access to the current crop of these DIY publications with a review journal and guide called
Factsheet Five. Gunderloy, who also authored the book
The World of Zines: A Guide to the Independent Magazine Revolution, further defines the genre as "generally created by one person, for love rather than money, and focusing on a particular subject." As his large house in nearby Rensselaer County rapidly filled to overflowing, he decided to donate his zine collection (about 500 boxes worth) to the New York State Library in Albany, where I was fortunate for a while to spend several happy hours a week creating brief catalog records for them. In the process of doing this, I would often jot down titles I found especially odd or intriguing. At one point a number of these coalesced into a sort of poem (or poems). Note: lower-case word in the first verse is mine, added there for both rhythm and rhyme.
I HATE MY JOB
I HATE YOU, myself
I'M NOT BORING YOU, AM I?
IT GOES ON THE SHELF
ANCIENT GRANDMA SECRETS
BREAKFAST WITHOUT MEAT
GREEN EGG, LIZZENGREASY
JERSEYBEAT
NICE DAY COMICS
NEON NEWS
DUMPSTER TIMES
WEEKLY WORLD NOOSE
STRESSED OUT
SUBURBAN VOICE
STILL NO SYMPTOMS
THE NOISE
CARBON DATING SERVICE
IS IT PORN?
JUST TESTING THE WATER
REPEAL OF DECORUM
BAD HAIRCUT
HELL TOUPEE
SACRIFICIAL STATIC
WHAT WAVE?
GET STUPID
GET SMART
ALGORITHM
ACCIDENTAL ART
WORD BURGER
INK DISEASE
FESTERING BRAINSORE
LSD
COMPLEAT MOTHER
CRAMPED AND WET
TEENAGE GANG DEBS
FULL-TIME DADS
STILL ANGRY?
INTERRUPT NOW
SHRED OF DIGNITY
AFTER HOURS
UPRIGHT OSTRICH
KANGAROO COURT
ILLITERATE DIGEST
SOMETHING SHORT
LIFE IS A JOKE
JOKE IS A LIFE
THE HORRORS OF LOVE
THE CHARM OF VICE
VOLUPTUOUS CORNINGWEAR
YELLOW SILK
BOILED ANGEL
TROUT IN THE MILK
BALCONY OF IGNORANCE
TEMPLE OF SCHLOCK
CATHEDRAL OF INSANITY
WORDSWORTH'S SOCKS
There were ten cases of
Magzin* in OhioLINK this morning, and 250 in WorldCat.
(Installation shot of 100 Fanzines, Andrew Roth Gallery, the Mott Collection, 21 October 2011, from Wikimedia Commons.)
Carol Reid
1 comment:
Thanks for the shout-out! We've never heard of the 'zine you paired us with, Wordsworth's Socks, but we used to trade with Festering Brainsore back in the good ol' daze. Coincidentally, my brother was also working on this collection when he was getting his MLS at SUNY Albany! Small world.
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