Fanzines were mimeographed magazines that were circulated by mail among science fiction fans in the days before the internet. They still are, for all I know, although now they’re generated by computer printers. I first learned about them in a 1950s issue of Amazing Stories and eagerly sent away 10 or 20 cents to Buck and Juanita Coulson in Indiana, whose Yandro was one of the best and longest-running of them all. Overnight, I was a fan, although not yet a BNF (big name fan). It was a thrill for me to have a LOC (letter of comment) published on such issues as the demise of BEMs (bug-eyed monsters), and soon I was publishing my own fanzine, named Stymie. ((Roger Ebert’s journal, “Fanzines beget blogs,” May 4, 2008.))

For any fan with an interest in film, I highly recommend subscribing to Ebert’s blog. He uses his insights in the the world of movies and helps a reader decipher how to approach reading film reviews – and how to pick critics to avoid – and better yet – those that you can trust.

His blog is located here: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/

In the past 30 days, we’ve accomplished quite a few things:

1. Complete site redesign from a one-person blog to a Fan-based news zine.
2. Added many features that made it both writer and reader friendly.
3. Used as many Internet standard features as possible to allow for both compatibility with various types of computers, but also a way to speed up the adaption process for newbie readers.
4. Developed a viable e-zine for N3F with rolling deadlines.

As I write this, I am in the midst of summer finals at law school. So, developments over the next few weeks should be slower than June. Development speed should pick up in august, though.

Features to be added in the future, depending upon reader interest, could include:

• A fan fiction archive
• A master calendar of upcoming fannish events (Cons, etc.)

And for those of you who have asked:

• If you are looking for a BBS or Forum, one already exists on the main N3F website:
  http://www.n3f.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl

If you have any wish lists, comments or suggestion on how to make this site more responsive to your needs as a fan of SF/F/H, please use the comment feature below. I will read it and respond. And if your ideas are possible and practical, they will come to life as soon as we are able to figure out how do to it.