Who You Gonna Call?

Zine
Title:	Who You Gonna Call?
Publisher:
Editor(s):	Cindy Rancourt
Date(s):	1991
Series?:
Medium:	print
Size:
Genre:
Fandom:	Real Ghostbusters
Language:	English
External Links:
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Who You Gonna Call? is a gen Real Ghostbusters 177-page anthology. Art and fiction by Ginger Fitts, Sheila Paulson, Rolaine Smoot, and Cindy Rancourt.

From a submission request: "Announcing a new fiction venture based on the animated characters, "The Real Ghostbusters"! Stories being sought may be funny or serious, light or intense, horror or science fiction, but good characterizations, intelligent plotlines and continuity are a must. Hint: editor is a big hurt/comfort fan and this zine is learning in that direction, so be warned!"

• Of All the Things I've Lost, I Miss My Mind the Most by Sheila Paulson (also in Airwaves #28)
• Love Potion #9½ by Sheila Paulson
• The Gift by Ginger Fitts
• Like Father, Like Son by Ginger Fitts
• Innocence by The Muse
• Revelations by Light of Day by The Muse
• Big V, Little V by Rolaine Smoot
• Man-Child by Rolaine Smoot
• one other unknown item

Reactions and Reviews

This is one of six new zines featuring the further adventures of THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS. There are seven stories (three long, two short, two medium) and two poems by Rolaine Smoot. The two best stories are "Love Potion 9½" and "Of All the Things I've Lost, I Miss my Mind the Most," both by Sheila Paulson.

Okay, we've got that out of the way. On to the review. Understand that this zine is heavily into "hurt/comfort," and while I do not care for this style of story, I am not going to hold it against anyone who loves the stuff. What I want to focus on is editorial style, or the lack thereof, in this zine. A competent editor should know the basic rules of grammar: punctuation, spelling, word choice. He/she should know the difference between "it's" (contraction of "it is") and "its" (neuter possessive). He/she should know when a story is rambling along and drifting away from the plot ("Like Father, Like Son" by Ginger Fitts is a 12 page story trapped in a 35-page saga, and Cindy Rancourt's "Innocence" is a 60-page excuse for excessive mental and physical cruelty to Stantzes) and using the blue pencil to get it back on track. Good editors should know how to properly reproduce art and what to do when pencil sketches (uninked) arrive from artists. He or she should also know about this word called "continuity," which means that the spelling of a character's name in one story should remain the same in the next story. And he/she should explain a credit on the illustrations page that reads "Assorted Uncredited License," which other, more suspicious people might take to mean "tracing from coloring books." What it comes down to this: if I am going to charge $13.00 for a 177-page zine (which I have), I had better make sure that I have the very best product available. And frankly, this one looks and feels like it was put together with minimal amount of effort. And it shows. Badly.

So if you're not that particular, or you just can't wait to see Ray sexually attacked by a dream image of Egon, then go ahead and buy the zine. Me, I'll save my money for someone who put some pride and effort into their work.