Letterzine - Fanlore

Letterzines (or lzs or LOC zines), were non-fiction discussion zines, which allowed discussion and chat among groups of fans before email and mailing lists were available. They printed letters of comment (called LOCs) from subscribers so they could carry out meta discussions, conversations, and what we would now call flame wars, as well as news about the source text and the fan community. Even non-letterzines often had letter columns filled with LOCs.

Maggie Nowakowska has written a history of the various Star Wars letterzines operating from 1977 to 1989: "These were the days when the written letter -- usually typed, but still often hand-written -- was the backbone of fannish activity, and letterzines were the means by which large numbers of fans from all areas of the country correspond." "The letter columns of SF fanzines had always been filled with gossip, with necessary information about fannish activities, and more important, with lively debate about books, stories, and issues of the day. The letters were called LoCs, letters of comment, and few have ever agreed on how to pronounce the term. Some say "loke," others, "lahk"; and some even speak out the letters, 'el-oh-see'. (A situation very similar to the current controversy over how to say ".gif". Is it gif as in "gift" or jif after the peanut butter? I've heard both sides claim that the inventor supports their interpretation.)"''

"Letterzines were fannish publications dedicated to LoCs. Internet bulletin boards and communities like Yahoo Groups are their descendants... LoCs were the comlink for fannish society..." (A complete copy of Maggie's history of Star Wars letterzines can be found here as a pdf file.)

A few letterzines were later put up on the web (typed or scanned); for example, Cousins, a Robin of Sherwood lz devoted to discussing the show from a Wiccan/pagan point of view.

Letterzines are different from apazines. "An apa is a private letter-writing club. The members send their letters to the editor, who collates them and sends everyone a copy in the form of a little zine. Only those who participate regularly (there's usually a specific rule about how often you have to contribute) get a copy. A letterzine, by contrast, is available to everyone and not just the contributors." [1]

Some Noteable letterzines

• Interstat, a Star Trek letterzine that lasted over a hundred issues

• Jundland Wastes, an early, influential Star Wars letterzine.

• Halkan Council, an early, and hugely important Star Trek lz, that sponsored the first Star Trek Fan Fund, and started the Fan Q awards.

• Not Tonight, Spock!, a K/S lz and reviewzine from 1984.

• Quantum Quarterly, a Quantum Leap lz, edited by Christine Mavroudis

• The Neutral Arbiter, a Blake's 7 lz, edited by Sherri Fillingham & Pat Nussman

• S and H, a slash Starsky and Hutch letterzine by Boojums Press & PJ Press that went for thirty-eight issues between 1979-1983

References