Audrey and I - which is to say, mostly Audrey - have started a 'zine. "'Zine" is a word that has existed since before Al Gore invented the word "Internet," and is not to be confused with French footballing legend and headbutt artist extraordinaire Zinedine Zidane. 'Zine is short for magazine; I suppose the foreshortening of the word implies some self-declared outre status, separating us from such sellout rags as Time, and National Geographic. In any event, we keeps it reals, y'all.
Our 'zine is called Yog's Notebook, and it's mainly going to be a forum for writings in the sf/fantasy/horror genres (for the uninitiated, "sf" is the term by which Science Fiction fans refer to Science Fiction; in order to sophisticate it and differentiate it from, I suppose, such things as Rocketship X-M, or the writings of Lionel Fanthorpe. E.g., writers like William Gibson and Larry Niven are sf, not Science Fiction. For what it's worth, I prefer the term "sci-fi," but I digress). We'd also like to have a some humor included; any genre of writing is improved by a little humor (our favorite authors include Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams), so Cthulhu willing our little 'zine will have stories that make you laugh while they describe interdimensional demons eating unsuspecting humans in rural Massachusetts.
We're already accepting short story submissions, and plan to have our first issue (both print and online) out in mid-March. As I hinted earlier, Audrey has done nearly every bit of work thus far getting this thing off the ground (viz., setting up the website and garnering it enough attention to already have submissions rolling in the next day). Might I take a wee bit of credit for having recently read an H.P. Lovecraft book, thereby inspiring Audrey to name it after one of Lovecraft's demons, Yog Sothoth? Perhaps Audrey gets the ultimate credit there too, since she bought me the book for Christmas (along with a whole stack of very swell old sci-fi paperbacks). I do plan to do more than just co-editor: I'd like to parley my ongoing experiment with book reviews into some kind of regular column. God knows my creative writing hasn't shown any signs of life since early college; even then the best stuff I wrote was poetry, and I pretty much loathe poetry these days. So I'll be writing essays, reviews, maybe op-ed pieces; I just have to think up a witty title for my column. Something like "Luke Got Hisself A Idea, And Done Wrote About It." I'll work on the title...
If you're interested in sci-fi/fantasy/horror, short fiction, 'zines, etc., please have a look at Yog's Notebook and consider submitting your work, spreading the word, or just buying a copy of our premier issue (sure to be a huge hit on eBay this summer!).
Tags: zine, writing, sf, fantasy, horror, humor, Yog's Notebook
2 comments:
Key question: Does Yog accept submissions from pre-Yog-creation friendlies? This assumes, of course, said friendlies believe rejection is life's way of being constructive...
Please submit all and everything! If you've got something unpublished that's already been rejected elsewhere, submit it to Yog posthaste. If you've got something that's been accepted/published elsewhere, check with Audrey.
Post a Comment