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.

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

• 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