My Life in Fandom

Another Fu Archive Goes Dark … Fu Fiction Can Find a New Home Here …

debwalsh — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 04:23:54 +0000

As many of you are aware, Cindy (Kaliedopy) has elected to close down the Fan Fiction Writers fan fiction archive. If you go to the URL today, you’ll find a message stating that the archive has closed for good.

First, let’s take a moment to thank Cindy for an amazing archive, hosted since 1996! A great contribution to fandom for many years, and a sad loss to us today. The one serious bright spot – we can hope for some great new fiction from Cindy!

Second, we can’t let any more Kung Fu: The Legend Continues fiction disappear from the web! This is what Fanlore has to say about KF:TLC’s online fiction presence: ”The result is that for what was at the time a reasonably large, active fandom, there’s very little trace of it left on the web.”

That statement is why, when I revived the KF:TLC FAQ (http://www.debwalsh.com/kftlc/), I spent so much time surfing the web to track down the small and wonderful archives all over the web – when taken as a whole, KF:TLC’s web footprint is like water, flowing in all directions, and it is large. Fanlore’s statement is false, but each time an archive

Continue reading Another Fu Archive Goes Dark … Fu Fiction Can Find a New Home Here …

MediaWest*Con, ShareCon, Tribal Forces, and GrangeCon – What do they all have in common?

debwalsh — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 08:14:30 +0000

Well, me. I’m planning to attend them all. Still a major nexus for zines and media fandom, and going strong after 32 years. I came back to MediaWest*Con this year for the first time in about 18 years. And had a blast, so I’m planning to go back next year. This year I had only one zine, Moonbeam #7, but next year, I hope to have three, and host at least one party – it’s the 20th anniversary of the premiere of Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, so we’ll be celebrating in the party suite during the con. Hope to see you there!

Check out the page for ShareCon at http://www.sharecon.net. I met one of the convention organizers at MediaWest*Con, and was really impressed by her enthusiasm and joy. I hear great things about this con, and look forward to my first time. Looks like great fun!

Tribal Forces is at http://tribalforces.net. The con is held only 30 minutes from my house. I missed last year’s con due to illness, but I’m determined to make it this year!

And I’ve gone to GrangeCon the past two years and love it. It’s a fun, truly relaxing relaxacon. Just hang

Continue reading MediaWest*Con, ShareCon, Tribal Forces, and GrangeCon – What do they all have in common?

Moonbeam #7 is available!

debwalsh — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 07:59:52 +0000

Moonbeam #7 Cover by J. Wagner

All the info on Moonbeam #7 can be found on the New Zines page on my Press site. It’s a beautiful zine, even if I do say so myself. From the front cover by J. Wagner through the stories and art throughout the zine, to the gorgeous backcover by C. Frasure, this was a joy to put together. Copies are still available from the original run, printed on bamboo-based “treeless” paper, with the art portfolios printed on a lovely parchment stock. It’s a fun zine to see and hold! I hope you’ll join me on the journey – and I’m considering submissions for the next issue, Moonbeam Infinity!

It’s a great time to be a Piper fan!

debwalsh — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 21:04:11 +0000

Amazon.com Widgets

John F. Carr’s been working a long time to keep the legacy of H. Beam Piper alive – he edited a number of Piper’s collections for Ace back in the ’80s/’90s. More recently, he’s been carrying on the literary tradition by adding to the Piper canon with more Space Viking and Lord Kalvan (Paratime) stories, as well as a biography of the man himself. At the same time, noted SF writer John Scalzi wrote a “just for fun” Fuzzy novel, essentially rebooting it, and after writing the manuscript, got permission from the Piper estate to publish. And Wolfgang Diehr has written a novel carrying on from the original Piper trilogy. An earlier edition borrowed some Fuzzy language – with the author’s permission – from Fuzzy Dream. Unfortunately, the author didn’t own the rights, and the publisher kvetched, so the book was revised and reissud. And today I discovered yet another author, Terry Mancour, has waded into the Piperverse, adding two Space Viking novels (available by Kindle only), with more in the pipeline. Reviews on Amazon give this new extension to the Space Viking saga high marks.

Links to purchase all of these exciting new

Continue reading It’s a great time to be a Piper fan!

New Zine Update!

debwalsh — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:01:16 +0000

22August2011 - Finally updated the New Zines page to reflect more accurate details on the zine plans – like, they’re not going to happen on time, simply because I can’t write the stories I want to write as fast as I’d hoped. And it’s the stories that started me thinking about doing zines again, so they are kind of the point. And someone on the Vendredi Press discussion list suggested a wish list of fandoms for the multimedia zines (thanks, Franzi!), so I’ve added pretty lengthy lists of shows I’d like to publish. That doesn’t mean that all of those series will be represented, just I’m open to fiction or art in them. There’s a list for Felgercarb (general multimedia), and a separate list for The Manifest (paranormal multimedia). I may have left some shows off that I meant to include, but the lists are pretty complete.

Also added a bit more on submission guidelines and contrib copies, and overall, just made the page more informative. Work is proceeding on Moonbeam, and I’m getting really excited about the zine. The portfolios – yep, multiple portfolios – really look amazing. And I’ve been checking out different papers. The portfolios

Continue reading New Zine Update!

Vendredi Press Discussion List

debwalsh — Mon, 23 May 2011 01:35:09 +0000

22May11 - I keep forgetting to post the information about my press discussion list. It’s been in existing for a number of years, and generally is not a high-volume list. Occasionally I’ll throw out questions or comments that generate discussion, but for the most part, it’s a few posts a month. It’s another good way to keep up with what’s happening on the DebWeb, and the state of stories and such. I’ve also encouraged folks to post messages regarding new genzines, folks selling off their collections or looking to buy, etc.

To subscribe to the Vendredi Press discussion list, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vendredipress/ or send an e-mail to subscribe to vendredipress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

See you there!

New stuff coming soon!

debwalsh — Mon, 23 May 2011 01:27:02 +0000

22May11 – So, I’ve been tinkering with a couple of tools this weekend, trying to find a more user-friendly and writer-friendly approach to the Classic Genzine Fan Fiction Archive. I’ve got lots of new stuff to add to it – heck, I haven’t even started in on the Stargate stuff! – and I really would like to have an easy way for people to show their appreciation to the writers. I’m pleased to see that people are stopping back regularly, and there are a number of pieces that have been accessed a number of times, but the way I’ve set up the archive, there’s no way to capture and display that. I’ve been toying with various options, and it looks like I can do pretty much everything I’d like to do with a variation on the WordPress software. I’ve added ratings to the posts to try out, and of course there’s already a built-in comment feature. There are plug-ins to capture page views and hits, It wouldn’t be as easy for me to do bulk updates because I maintain my data in a database, but I wouldn’t have to do bulk updates – I could add stories as needed,

Continue reading New stuff coming soon!

The future is (was? still is?) fantastic!

debwalsh — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 23:51:36 +0000

27Mar11 – Well, it’s been a busy week. Mom had surgery last Monday, and is bouncing back surprisingly well – the challenge in the coming weeks will be keeping her from overdoing as she feels stronger and better.

In the meantime, I’ve finaly finished the first cut of my Space: 1999 resource page, and launched a very nice collection of images in the Gallery. More to come, as always, but it’s a good start. One of the interesting things I’m finding as I research Space: 1999 online is that there are a number of thriving communities, and quite a lot of fan fiction these days.

This is especially interesting to me since I remember Space: 1999 fandom of the ’70s and early ’80s as being fan fiction challenged. Many fen were interested in the technical aspects – there were a lot of modellers and propulsion enthusiasts in the fandom – but there wasn’t a great deal of interest in fanzines and fan fiction at the time. There were a few prolific writers in the fandom – like Mary Bloemker, Rosie Badgett and Paul Bens, Diana Winslow, and Mike Heyes – but there were few fiction zines, and to be

Continue reading The future is (was? still is?) fantastic!

New Address for the Ultimate Real Ghostbusters Fan Site!

debwalsh — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:35:47 +0000

20March2011 – Yep, I’ve been busy this week bringing Sheila Paulson’s Real Ghostbusters Fan Page back online. Her space provider just kept losing the site, so since I’m lucky enough to have a stable host, with unlimited space and bandwidth (seriously, if you’re in the market for a web host, use the link to the left and sign up with FatC0w – they’re the best host I’ve ever had in nearly 20 years of doing web pages), it made sense to bring it onto my domain. It was a great opportunity to do some housekeeping, clear out dead links, and organize the page so it’s easier to find what you’re looking for.

Alas, some story links have been removed, because the pages are no longer active. We always seem to be losing stuff. If anyone has Real Ghostbusters gen stories that have appeared in zines, and you’d like to have them hosted, contact either Sheila (e-mail on the RGB Fan Page) or me (e-mail on my main hub page). Sheila will be taking over maintenance of her Fan Page now that the redesign is complete. If you send stories to me to post, I’ll add them to the Classic

Continue reading New Address for the Ultimate Real Ghostbusters Fan Site!

Chasing Shadows!

debwalsh — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 05:37:12 +0000

20 February 2011 – I just did a fairly large update to MaryB’s Shadow Chasers Home Page. Rather sad, really, as it was time to remove the links to the video files Mary had posted several years ago. Mary’s Rapidshare account must have finally expired, and the links no longer worked. It kind of felt like losing another bit of her. It’s so weird – when I work on this page, or any other fannish endeavor in a fandom she liked, I always seem to get so involved and forget for a moment that she’s gone. That inevitable, “I wonder what Mary will think of this,” or “I gotta show this to Mary!” moment, and the sick feeling that follows when memory returns. I’ve had similar moments like that regarding my Dad and other friends and relatives who’ve passed, and I often see them as little gifts from those loved ones – those moments of joy when you feel like you’re sharing a mutual love, hobby or whatever. And you really do feel as though that person is with you again, if only for a brief time.

Is it any wonder that as a culture, we’re still chasing shadows?

Still

Continue reading Chasing Shadows!