Frighty #4

The new Frighty is out.  Before I post the link, remember this zine is designed to be printed.  Reading online or otherwise electronically is not recommended.  The Internet is just being used as a distribution method because we're too cheap to pay for postage and printing.  When you print it, print it doublesided, mark it "flip on short edge"--let's repeat that so no one prints half the pages upside down; once again, flip on short edge--, fold it, staple it if you feel ambitious (to anyone who doesn't have a long stapler, you can do this with any stapler you flip open, you just have to staple the zine into a phone book or something, then pull it out and use a pencil or something to roll over and flatten the raised staple edges down--if that makes no sense, then somebody on YouTube probably has a video showing how to do it or just ask me and I'll show you how; just don't get a boo-boo doing it and use a rubber band or some other binding instead if you're worried you will), and you're good to go.  You can make copies if you want others to read it; we don't care.  Just don't sell them unless you're sending the money beyond printing it to us.

The issue was fun as usual, but it's the last one planned.  For something that was intended as a one-off, four ain't too bad.  Maybe some day we'll do a fifth issue, but even if we never do, how about you do a zine using this method and let me know when you publish it so I can check it out?  Thanks again to everyone who helped with this one!  Here's the link for printing/downloading:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1y-sXxwkcc9TPr4Xyn57YsVKIwNeBrQtp/view?usp=sharing 

For more Wred Fright writing, then read the latest novel, The Front Yard War.

New Pop Lit On Frighty #3!

  

New Pop Lit spread the word about the new issue of Frighty, so thanks to King Karl and the rest of the New Pop Lit gang for that.  You can check it out here:  https://fastpoplit.com/2025/11/02/new-pop-lits-editor-appears-in-frighty-3/.   And if you want to check out Frighty itself, then it is here (remember, it's designed to be printed, doublesided, flip on short edge, fold, maybe bind, and read):  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RVQ3SL9yDklqNowKdEmYlwk7EKgF6BIQ/view?usp=drive_link  #4 will be out this winter, probably in January after the holidays quiet down.

For more Wred Fright writing, then read the latest novel, The Front Yard War.  

Frighty #3

  

The new Frighty is out.  Before I post the link, remember this zine is designed to be printed.  Reading online or otherwise electronically is not recommended.  The Internet is just being used as a distribution method because we're too cheap to pay for postage and printing.  When you print it, print it doublesided, mark it "flip on short edge"--let's repeat that so no one prints half the pages upside down; once again, flip on short edge--, fold it, staple it if you feel ambitious (to anyone who doesn't have a long stapler, you can do this with any stapler you flip open, you just have to staple the zine into a phone book or something, then pull it out and use a pencil or something to roll over and flatten the raised staple edges down--if that makes no sense, then somebody on YouTube probably has a video showing how to do it or just ask me and I'll show you how; just don't get a boo-boo doing it and use a rubber band or some other binding instead if you're worried you will), and you're good to go.  You can make copies if you want others to read it; we don't care.  Just don't sell them unless you're sending the money beyond printing it to us.

The issue was fun as usual, so we'll be doing #4 in the winter.  Thanks again to everyone who helped with this one!  Here's the link for printing/downloading:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RVQ3SL9yDklqNowKdEmYlwk7EKgF6BIQ/view?usp=drive_link

For more Wred Fright writing, then read the latest novel, The Front Yard War. 

New Pop Lit On Frighty #2!

  

Thanks to New Pop Lit for their shoutout about Frighty #2!  You can read the second issue of Frighty here:    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxtKjKFYzM7k3ujI4S43G1ZcCop15i69/view.  Remember, it's designed to be printed doublesided flip on short edge, then you can fold and even staple/bind if you're feeling really inspired.  It's not really designed to be read online.  I'll probably do a third issue of the zine in the fall since some folks already sent material for it.

Today's Bloomsday, so that means summer is upon us, and I will be taking a short break from the blog.  See you in July with a new single, a new album, perhaps another autographed novel to add to the others now available, some music videos, and whatever else the rest of 2025 brings!

In the meantime, why not do some summer reading, starting with my latest novel, The Front Yard War?! 

Frighty #2!

Had enough fun doing the first issue of the zine Frighty that I made a second.  You can read it here:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mxtKjKFYzM7k3ujI4S43G1ZcCop15i69/view?usp=sharing Once again, it's designed to be downloaded and then printed out and read.  Print it doublesided, flip on short edge, then you can fold it and staple it or bind it however you want and you'll have a nice little zine to read.  Reading it online isn't going to be ideal because it's formatted for printing and folding.  This issue, King Karl Wenclas and Markell R. West join in the fun.  The Midnight Rider sent in three contributions, so there will be at least one more issue, probably in the fall, given the quarterly schedule.  This is the summer issue.  Feel free to print out and distribute if you know anyone else that needs a new zine in their life.  

And if you need more to read, then read my latest novel, The Front Yard War!  

New Pop Lit On Frighty!

Uh, oh, looks like someone noticed!  Fortunately, they are cool, so all is good.  Thanks to King Wenclas at New Pop Lit for giving Frighty a plug!  It was a lot of fun doing a zine again after all these years.  It was an experiment to use the Internet as a distribution system for what is a printed zine, but based on the picture King used it looks like it's working out.  Postage and printing are crazy expensive these days when compared with the 1990s when the zine medium was flourishing.  I used to sell copies of the zine version of The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus for $3 postpaid, and most issues were 48 pages.  Today, it costs $1.01 just to mail a 20 page zine and that's not including printing costs, which would probably run a buck alone, so this experimental format might be a good solution for keeping print zines affordable and alive.  It cuts out the postage (sorry, USPS!) and the reader has to pay printing costs (sorry, reader!), so I can just concentrate on content.  Check it out and see what you think (remember it's designed to be printed--doublesided, flip on short edge--don't try to read it online):  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1crG3N9s09JQ5zDP-dHdhzZHV03YdtoXQ/view?usp=sharing.

If after reading Frighty, you need more to read, then read my new novel, The Front Yard War! 

New Zine: Frighty #1!

 

It's been over 20 years since I published a zine, but I felt the itch to do one again.  Here it is:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1crG3N9s09JQ5zDP-dHdhzZHV03YdtoXQ/view?usp=sharing.  I had a lot of fun putting it together; I hope you have fun reading it.  It's not really designed to be read online though.  You'll need to print it out.  That's why it's a zine and not an ezine.  We're just using the Internet for distribution.  Print it out doublesided, so print it on both sides and flip it (print on short edge).  Otherwise, you'll end up with pages printed upside down.  I mean, hey, if you're into that kind of thing . . . But for anyone, who isn't, let's chant along with me, PRINT DOUBLESIDED ON SHORT EDGE!  Then it will come out as it should, and you'll have a nice little zine you can fold, staple, bind however you want.  Feel free to make copies and distribute them if you want.  I was thinking it might be a one-off, but Mark Sonnenfeld and The Midnight Rider sent more than one contribution, so there will be at least one more issue (no 20 year wait this time!), probably in the summer.  Quarterly might be about as much as I can handle as a publication schedule, but, as always, no deadlines remains the motto of Wredfright.Com, except when, you know, there's a deadline . . . Anyway, if anyone tells you that zines are dead, you can toss them a copy of Frighty #1!

And if Frighty #1 isn't enough writing to tad you over, then read The Front Yard War, my latest novel!

What To Do With Old Zines?

 

I once amassed 32 boxes or more of comic books by seldom getting rid of one.  Fortunately, before I had to move them and probably get a hernia in the process, I decided to shed them and over the years whittled the collection down to 1 box.  Eventually, even that 1 box will finally go.  

With zines, I never quite let things accumulate to that level.  Over the years, I've gotten rid of most of the zines I've read soon after reading them.  I've given them away to friends, traded them with other zinesters, left them at coffeehouses and record stores, and often given them away to libraries, both academic and anarchist.  Some of the libraries were great (Bowling Green State University's Popular Culture Library who seems to still have my donations) while others were not (Kent State University's Special Collections who seemed to lose the zines immediately after I donated them).  Regardless, I still had a big box of zines that I had saved.  After one last backbreaking move, I decided it was time to shed them as well.  As much as I would like to find them a good home by donation, I didn't want to risk the crapshoot anymore as libraries go under (the anarchist ones) or change policies (the academic ones), nor did I want to pay a bunch of money in postage shipping the donation, so I decided to try selling them before I did the easiest thing and just threw them in the recycling bin.

To my surprise, the zines sold.  There must be some serious zine collectors out there, which is cool because the zines do feature some good reading.  And, once someone has paid money, he or she tends to value the possession more.  However, strange a psychological quirk that is, it does seem to exist for many people.  Currently, I have up a couple of Stephen Perkins's publications, which are about zines and are from the early 1990s.  I imagine this stuff is fairly rare.  The box is empty now, though I am still rereading my way through a stack of Zine Worlds.  I've been rereading the zines as I shed them, which has been quite fun.  This led to the ULA anthology project I did earlier this year (those zines should see the auction block in 2025 after enough time has passed from the anthology that it is clear I do not need them any more).  

On a related note, I was happy to see that Zine World founder Doug Holland has resurfaced, though his resurfacing has a sad cause (the death of his wife).  Maybe now, we'll finally see the long-awaited Pathetic Life anthology.

The Zine Worlds are dense reading, so I don't expect them to be sold until next year at the earliest.  They are rather rare, so I expect they will sell.  Of course, rarity does not always equate to valuation.  No one else may care.  In which case, there is always the recycling bin.  But that would make me a bit sad.

I might have gathered some more zines by then or more might have turned up that I stashed somewhere in some other boxes with other stuff, in which case they will be headed out the door one way or another as well.  Eventually, I imagine the only zines left in the house will be file copies of my own zines.

But if I move again, I might want to shed them also.

One thing I won't shed is my latest novel!

Thanks For The Fun In Michigan City!

I had a lot of fun at the Michigan City Zine & Small Press Fest!  Thanks to Michele McDannold and the other organizers!  I gave a talk about zines, was part of a panel of zine publishers, and read some poetry.  I also have quite a stack of summer reading now!

Nice Article On The Michigan City Zine Fest!

Michele McDannold, the organizer of the Michigan City, Indiana USA Zine Fest forwarded me a nice article about the event.  It is here.

Michigan City Zine & Small Press Fest

I will be attending the Michigan City, Indiana USA Zine & Small Press Fest in April.  I will be giving a talk about the history of zines, be on a panel about zines, and be reading some of my fiction/poetry.  I also will have some books for sale and free stuff to give away at a table.  It should be fun!  If you are in the area, come on by.  They have some other fun weekend events planned around the event also.

What Wred's Reading: Superman: The High-Flying History Of America's Most Enduring Hero

I just started reading this book by Larry Tye.  My buddy Brent sent it to me since he knows I dig comics and super-heroes.  It looks to be a good read, and Tye seems to be fairly on target with his research.  He's even careful about it.  For example, on page 5, writing of Superman's co-creator Jerry Siegel, Tye writes that Siegel's writing appeared in "his own Cosmic Stories, America's first science fiction magazine produced by and for fans."

That may be true.  I am glad that Tye doesn't claim that Cosmic Stories is the first fanzine because it probably wasn't.  But "first science fiction magazine produced by and for fans" . . . hmm, maybe.  The distinction between that and the first fanzine is thin but notable, so ok.

This could be a superread.

This Document Has Self-Destructed!

Recently, I was surprised to get a letter in the mail requesting a copy of a thesis I did on zines back in the 1990s.  I had interviewed a number of zine publishers and others associated with zines for the thesis and as a thank you, I put together a zine version of the thesis to send them.  Being zinesters, they, of course, reviewed it in their zines and soon I had other zinesters contacting me to trade or buy a copy.  One of those old zines must still be floating around somewhere because recently someone wrote me for a copy, enclosing $3 to cover postage and printing.

Well, there's been a bit of inflation since 1996, so $3 doesn't cover production costs anymore.  Charmed by the request, I honored it, but this post serves as notice that this thesis is out of print.  If anyone sends me $3 for a 20-year-old zine, then he or she will receive $3 back in the mail minus the cost of a stamp plus an offer to email a copy of the thesis to them.

Plus I've written better work about zines since the thesis.  There's the dissertation, and, best of all, an article I wrote for Books And Beyond (get it from your local academic library).

It's nice to see that people are still interested in academic studies of zines and zines themselves.  I have had a number of requests over the years from other scholars interested in zines for interviews and whatnot, but seldom does anyone remember to send me a copy of the finished work.  If more academics could emulate This Document Will Self Destruct In 30 Seconds (which actually wasn't the title of the thesis; it was just a sticker from a set of spy-themed stickers that my mom gave me that I threw on the front of the zine for giggles), then that would be a good thing.  Please share the results of your work with those who helped you achieve it.

Jay Koivu Zine Prophet

I was reading an old issue of Mr. Peebody's Soiled Trousers And Other Delights and came across an eerie line.  Published by Jay Koivu, Peebody's was a fun perzine that usually was in the form of daily journal entries.  This issue documented Jay's life as he had moved once again to Los Angeles in 2001.  The issue was published in May 2001 or so.  In the entry dated April 14, Jay writes, "Why do I feel like something really bad is gonna happen before this year is over?"

Now, something really bad happens every day to somebody, or many somebodies, and Jay's thought is a very openended and general statement, but given that this issue was published in early 2001, a few months before September 11th, it's still eerie to read.  I probably last read this issue shortly after it came out and didn't much note that line.  Rereading the zine, and that line, in 2015, knowing what was coming later in 2001 made for a creepy experience.

Maybe Jay should become a tarot reader or something.  On at least one occasion, his feeling about the future was on target.

La Bibliotheque Fantastique

I recently traded zines with Antoine Lefebvre, a zine publisher and artist from Paris, France.  It had been some time since I traded internationally, and I was a bit shellshocked by the rise in international postage prices.  Yikes!  It's a good thing that Antoine also copublishes his work electronically at La Bibliotheque Fantastique, so that you can check out the great assortment of zines and other publications, including classic dada publications, without having to pay postage.  Print is still cooler, but it's certainly not cheaper!

Patching The Gap: From Zines To Ezines

While doing some routine maintenance on the website, I discovered that the .pdf Chip Rowe made a decade or so ago of my dissertation, From Zines To Ezines:  Electronic Publishing And The Literary Underground, had disappeared from Zinebook.Com.  Chip will no doubt rectify matters when he does his routine maintenance, but, in the meantime, I thought I'd patch the gap by posting the .pdf (623 KB) here.  It is up at Scribd, thanks to Jose Angel Abril (who I'm not sure I know, but might have been one of the many zine scholars who's contacted me over the years), but the Scribders seem to want people to log in to read it (I've embedded it below as another way of avoiding the login), so this skips that hassle.  The dissertation was done to help people like this guy, that guy, this other guy, and that other guy, all citations that I haven't encountered before.  I'm glad the thing is still helpful.  So here it is again.

Wright Dissertation by José Ángel Abril

Citation Alert!

I always enjoy coming across scholarly articles that cite some work I've done.  The latest one I've run across is by Viviana Gaballo from the University of Macerata in Italy.  Her article "Language And Culture In Minor Media Text Types:  A Diachronic, Intralinguistic Analysis From Fanzines To Webzines" is published in the book Contrastive Media Analysis.  She cites my dissertation, which covered similar territory.  I'm happy that work I did in 2001 or so can still be useful to scholars across the world in 2012!

Zisk Book!

My pal Mike Faloon likes zines so much that he not only publishes Go Metric!, which I occasionally write for, but he also publishes a zine about baseball called Zisk.  Now Zisk is getting collected into a book called Fan Interference:  A Collection Of Baseball Rants And Reflections, and there's a Kickstarter campaign for it.  If you like baseball or zines and have some spare dough, please consider helping them out!

"Assembled in the Margins"

I was pleased to discover myself quoted recently in a capsule history of zines called "Assembled In The Margins:  The History And Culture Of Zines" (link goes to a  283 KB pdf).  It is part of a special issue devoted to zines by YA Hotline, a publication by Dalhousie University in Canada which focuses on young adult library matters.  It's always gratifying to see one's research being useful to others.  The writers, Amanda Bird and a few others, cite my dissertation (link goes to a 623 KB pdf), which is good.  Sometimes, people still cite my master's thesis, which was also on zines.  That's fine if one is interested in psychological motivations related to zine culture, but the history and analysis of zine culture is better in the dissertation, which I wrote later when I knew even more about the subject.  Best of all for understanding zine history and characteristics is the article I wrote on zines a few years later for Books And Beyond, but it's often overlooked because B&B is a reference work usually only found in libraries and not online.  I don't know if I'll ever write another article about zines, but it's possible.  If so, it will likely supersede the others as well, just by virtue of my acquisition of more knowledge about zines at that later date.  Fortunately, many other scholars have gotten interested in zines, so, having said my bit, I may not need to contribute further to the scholarly conversation.

Seeing as how the zine issue of YA Hotline came out in 2008 and I just stumbled upon it now, that might be for the best.

Everyone's A Zinester Today!

When I first started researching zines in the 1990s, one of the questions I would ask zine publishers was "What would happen if everyone did a zine in the future?"  I got some thoughtful answers along with some amusing ones ("Xerox stocks would rise" and "There would be no more forests"). 

I thought about that question recently and realized that with the ease of epublishing, even something as simple as a post on Facebook, pretty much everyone does do a zine now.  In the past, one's desire to communicate had to be pretty strong to put up with the hassles of photocopying, stapling, and mailing a zine.  Now, computer technology makes it so easy to publish that almost everyone does so, though they may not be thinking of it as such.  How else can we explain someone sharing with us what they had for lunch on Twitter, or telling us on Facebook that Amishmade pepperoni bread isn't quite as good as Italianmade pepperoni bread, or complaining on a blog that the Dylan Dog movie would have been better if they had actually written a script for it?  Those are all things that we might have shared with friends in the past, but it's unlikely that we would have had such strong feelings about them that we would have published them in print.  Today, no one seems to hold back much before clicking the post or publish button.

Some people might complain that we live in a world of too much information, but if you have a twinge of Freudian thought in you or if you love freedom of speech, then all this babble can only be regarded as fairly healthy for both individuals and society.  Talking is therapeutic, after all.  And, in a democracy, the best way to figure out the right things to do is to argue about them.  There certainly is little repression out there anymore.  And, despite the news splash mass shootings and other violent crimes make, we actually live in a less violent world, according to Steven Pinker in The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined.  Maybe people are working out their emotions in a healthier way online.  As a result, on the Internet these days, we all seem to bob around a bit in everyone's consciousness, and that's probably a good thing.

On the other hand, with so many people talking at once, is anyone listening?

Maybe those who really want to have what they say stand out might end up turning to the zine again.