Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine?/Top Five Fanzines Questionnaire
In 1993, the editor asked her subscribers to list their "Five Favorite Fanzines." The following are some of the fanzines listed in issue #4:
The editor opens the issue by listing her Top Five Fanzines:
- Interphase (Star Trek: TOS)
- The Other Side of Paradise (Multiple Fandoms)
- Menagerie (Star Trek)
- Delta Triad (Star Trek)
- Faces of Time (Doctor Who)
- Guardian (Multiple Fandoms)
- Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek: TNG)
The first fan divides her top five list into two categories: Fiction and Non Fiction:
Top Five Fiction Zines [I'd] Race Into A Fire And Save (after the VCR and artwork)
- Crossed Swords (Wizards and Warriors)
- Panning for Pyrites (Multiple Fandoms)
- Errantry #2 (Multiple Fandoms)
- Steele Files (Remington Steele)
- Fifth Season #2 and B7 Complex #5 (tie) (Blake's 7)
- Honorable Humour Mention: JediStarDarkFalconKnight (Star Wars)
- Bitchin'est Artwork EVER Mention: Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek: TNG)
- Bitchin'est Writing EVER Mention: Forgive Us Our Trespasses (War of the Worlds)
Top Five Non-Fiction Zines [I'd] Race Into A Fire And Save (after the VCR and artwork)
- Artforum (letterzine)
- Pop Stand Express (Multiple Fandoms)
- Dark Shadows Concordance (Dark Shadows)
- Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine? (Multiple Fandoms)
- The Forrester Papers (War of the Worlds)
Another fan bases her list on the number of times she reread a zine:
- Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek:TNG)
- Courts of Honor (Star Trek)
- The Bizarro Zine #1 & #2 (Blake's 7)
- Demeter (Star Trek)
- Beyond the Farthest Star (Star Trek & (Star Trek:TNG)
Another fan writes:
- Scales of Justice (Starsky & Hutch)
- Perestroika (Muncle)
- Warped Space (early issues) (Multiple Fandoms)
- Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek:TNG)
- Galactic Discourse #3 (Star Trek)
- NOT The MediaWest*Con Program Guides
One fan breaks their fanzines down according to fandom:
- Precessional (Star Trek)
- Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek: TNG)
- Thrust (slash zine) (Star Trek)
- Perestroika (Muncle)
- Murder on San Carmelitas (Starsky & Hutch)
Rache offers her five favorite fanzines, focusing on more recent publications:
- City of Byzantium (Muncle)
- St. Crispin's Day Society #1 (Muncle)
- Paean to Priapus #1 (Multiple Fandoms)
- Master of the Revels (The Professionals)
- British Takeaway #1 (The Professionals)
A Star Trek and Beauty and the Beast fan can only come up with three zines:
- Courts of Honor (Star Trek)
- The Perfect Object (Star Trek)
- Broken Images (Star Trek)
A fan writes from overseas that her favorite zines are, in chronological order:
- Spockanalia (Star Trek)
- Kraith (Star Trek)
- Interphase (Star Trek)
- Halkan Council ((Star Trek letterzine)
- Guardian (Star Trek:TOS & Star Wars)
- Alternative (Star Trek)
A long time Star Trek and Starsky & Hutch fan writer and fanzine publisher offers two lists. First, her favorite fanzines with excellent production values:
- Interphase (Star Trek)
- Warped Space (Multiple Fandoms)
- Galactic Discourse (Star Trek)
- The Other Side of Paradise
- Stardate: Unknown (Star Trek)
- Guardian (Star Trek:TOS & Star Wars)
- A Handful of Snowflakes (Star Trek)
Second, she lists fanzines that she felt "suffered from poor production values:"
- T-Negative (Star Trek)
- Most Star Wars fanzines (although she also notes that the writing quality was poor across Star Wars fandom so she has to rely on personal recommendations).
An editor overcomes her reluctance to publicly list her favorite fanzines by focusing on zines with "creativity, intelligence, wit and an attention to craftmanship":
- Sahsheer (Star Trek)
- Galactic Discourse #3 (Star Trek)
- Artforum (letterzine)
- Propagator (Star Trek)
- "The Valjiir" series serialized in In a Different Reality and in The Valjiir Continuum. (Star Trek)
A well known fanzine dealer offers their list:
- Kraith (Star Trek)
- Fetish (Star Trek) (slash)
- Mind Meld/Vault of Tomorrow (Star Trek)
- The Weight Collected (Star Trek)
- IDIC (Star Trek: TOS zine 1) Sahaj (Star Trek)
- Many other zines receive honorable mentions, including Tales of Feldman, Simple Gifts, and Trekindex (Star Trek).
A fanzine publisher and fan writer divides her list into three groups: First, "the most important media fanzines," second her personal favorites, and third her "favorite zine-taken-as-a-whole" zines:
First the important zines:
- Courts of Honor (Star Trek)
- Escape From New York (Muncle)
- Graven Images (Starsky & Hutch)
- One Way Mirror (Star Trek)
- Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek: TNG)
- The Thousandth Man (Starsky & Hutch)
Second, her personal favorites include:
- Interphase #2 (Star Trek)
- Klingon Empire Appointment Calendar (Star Trek)
- One More River (Starsky & Hutch)
- Syndizine #1 (Multiple Fandoms)
- Zebra 3 #3 (Starsky & Hutch)
Last the zines that she "systematically enjoyed every issue":
- Babel (Star Trek)
- Eel Banders' Bulletin (Star Trek)
- Fan from U.N.C.L.E. (Muncle)
- Menagerie (Multiple Fandoms)
- Warped Space (Multiple Fandoms)
- Psst... Hey Kid, Wanna Buy a Fanzine?
A fan artist finds it hard to pick, so she divides her list into favorite writers and favorite zines:
Favorite writers (she'd read anything they write or produce):
- Connie Faddis (writer/artist)
- Paula Block (writer)
- Ellen Randolph (writer)
- Paula Smith (writer)
- Susan Garrett (writer)
Favorite fanzines:
- Tales of the Feldman and More Tales of the Feldman (Star Trek)
- The Thousandth Man (Starsky & Hutch)
- The Goliath (Starsky & Hutch)
- The Holmesian Federation (Sherlock Holmes and Star Trek)
- Rerun (Multiple Fandoms)
A fan jokes, tongue in cheek, that now that she has publicly committed to her list of favorite fanzines, she runs the risk of being driven out of fandom:
- B7 Complex (Blake's 7)
- Sing Sweetly, Sing Strong (Doctor Who)
- The Forrester Papers (War of the Worlds)
- Syndizine/Son of Syndizine (Multiple Fandoms)
- Artforum (letterzine)
- honorable mentions to Pop Stand Express (letterzine), Steele Files (Remington Steele), Panning for Pyrites, Rerun, and Pulse of the Machine (Star Trek: TNG)
And a straggler from issue #5:
- Pulse of the Machine
- Pulse of the Machine
- Pulse of the Machine
- Pulse of the Machine
- Pulse of the Machine
("Okay, okay, the real list follows")
- Any issue of Interphase
- Pulse of the Machine
- Scales of Justice
- Snow on the Moon
- The Pawn of Leptos
- "and a special mention to A Plague in Time"