Winterfest Interview with Jan Sutter
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Winterfest Interview with Jan Sutter |
| Interviewer: | Winterfest |
| Interviewee: | Jan Sutter |
| Date(s): | 2006 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Beauty and the Beast |
| External Links: | interview is here; reference link; another reference link |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
In 2006, Jan Sutter was interviewed for Winterfest. In it, she talks a lot about Crystal Rose Lending Library.
See Winterfest Interview Series.
Some Excerpts
The Library is pretty simple. Most of the ladies send a check to cover actual postage plus $1.00 for the shipping supplies along with a list of zines they would like to read and I send them as many of their picks as can fit in a box. After they are finished reading the zines, they just mail them back along with a new list and a check for the next batch. Because of the weight of the zines, we try to stick with media mail, which saves the ladies a bit. In the old days, priority worked well and was faster but with the changing postal rates, priority is a bit much. As far as getting started, the easiest way would be to drop me a note, either email or snail mail and request a zine list and order form.
Around 1990, [JoAnn Grant] and Vicki Thomas were on their way home from a B & B meeting and decided to start a fan club there in NC. I would imagine the name came pretty easily, such a lovely name. She said the main purpose of the Crystal Rose was to be in contact with other fans. It was fun and hard work. They went to several of the early conventions, first one being in Las Vegas, and got to meet some of their members and got several interviews with members of the cast.The Library was started after the first convention they attended, with zines from their own collections plus donations from other fans, due to the fact that they were getting requests from members to read some of the zines. Sandy P. Shelton got in touch with Jo Ann with a zine she had written and they started putting her stories in the newsletter. Then more fans started sending in material for the newsletter, which included Judy Lloyd as you can see from the website. There are still a lot of the stories out there for your enjoyment. Sandy C. Shelton sent them some of her artwork for zines, and that really kicked off the zine sales.
The fan club and web site were active for about 10 years and then life started getting in the way as it so often does.
As far as I know, Vicki Thomas was in charge of the library for years. When life got a bit hectic, I jumped in. You have to remember, I had joined both CABB and CR for the libraries. I think I had about three zines that I had gotten at a small private convention in Houston in the early years and had no way of getting more. So when I found out about Fan Clubs and Libraries, I signed up. I guess I was one of the more pesky borrowers and when it looked like they were going to shut it down, I volunteered. That must have been about 1998. I remember trying to figure out how I was going to get 300 zines from North Carolina to Texas. What we ended up doing was; they boxed them up (about 7 BIG boxes) and sent them by airfreight. I remember picking them up at the airport and bringing them home, sitting in the middle of the floor, putting them in order - like a kid in a candy store.
I most assuredly was [a BatB addict]. It seemed that I just couldn’t get enough. I would read from the time I got home until the wee hours of the morning for years. And when the library got here, I probably read everything in there. It was wonderful, now-a-days, there doesn’t seem to be as much free time as before. But I have been known to get a new zine in and read it before it goes into the library, usually when I am supposed to be doing something else. lol.