Fantasy zines

Filed under Blog Tours on May 19, 2008
Keywords: Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour, fanzines, MindFlights

Welcome to the grand re-opening of Pens & Swords. I’d like to thank my long-time readers for their patience during the renovations, and hopefully I didn’t scare too many new readers away while I tried out some design templates during this past week. I think I’ve cleaned up all the messes, but if I missed something, be sure to let me know.

It’s been a while since I participated in the Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy (CSFF) blog tour, but it just so happens that the May tour starts today. This month features MindFlights, a new speculative fiction webzine that is really a combination of Double-Edged Publishing’s previous webzine’s: Dragons, Knights and Angels and The Sword Review.

MindFlights is a direct descendant of the fanzine. Fanzines are fan-created publications dedicated to a particular cultural subject. They generally consisted of photocopied, stapled pages of colored paper stock that were distributed by hand or mailing list. A nominal fee might be charged just to cover costs.

I saw my first fanzine in junior high, about the time I really started collecting comic books. This particular fanzine focused on superheroes, though I think it might have contained some traditional fantasy fiction, also. I don’t remember too much else about it, other than the colored paper, but I thought it was cool and wanted to contribute a story. I never did.

The Internet has provided a new medium for fanzines. A Google search for “fantasy webzine” returns over 200,000 results. Like their paper predecessors, the vast majority of these online publications offer little or no compensation for accepted stories.

Fanzine’s enjoy a rich tradition, and shouldn’t be written off as possible markets, however. The magazine Amazing Stories made its debut as a fanzine in 1926. Many famous genre authors got their starts in fanzines, and continued to contribute to them after being professionally published. An early version of Siegel and Shuster’s Superman first appeared in a fanzine, and Hugo Awards are given to fanzines.

Another benefit of writing for fanzines was the direct feedback from readers in the form of a letter column. Sometimes the actual addresses of fanzine readers where printed, allowing for direct communication. MindFlights provides this same type of connection through their forums. A link at the end of each story opens a comment post where fans–both readers and writers–can discuss the work.

If I was a more prolific short story writer, like my friend and fellow author Marcy Rockwell (who also happens to be an editor for MindFlights), I’d probably submit to webzines. Print markets for short fantasy fiction are few and far between. Contributing to fanzines might not be as sexy, but they provide a unique experience for fantasy fiction writers. Be sure to check out the other stops on the CSFF blog tour and see what they have to say:

• Brandon Barr
• Justin Boyer
• Jackie Castle
• CSFF Blog Tour
• Gene Curtis
• D. G. D. Davidson
• Jeff Draper
• April Erwin
• Karina Fabian
• Beth Goddard
• Andrea Graham
• Todd Michael Greene
• Katie Hart
• Michael Heald
• Christopher Hopper
• Joleen Howell
• Jason Joyner
• Kait
• Carol Keen
• Mike Lynch
• Terri Main
• Margaret
• Rebecca LuElla Miller
• Pamela Morrisson
• John W. Otte
• John Ottinger
• Rachelle
• Steve Rice
• Ashley Rutherford
• Mirtika or Mir’s Here
• Rachelle Sperling
• Stuart Stockton
• Steve Trower
• Speculative Faith
• Robert Treskillard
• Linda Wichman
• Laura Williams
• Timothy Wise

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