FANZINE

The Rumpus and Fanzine just discovered each other.  We’ve been around a little while longer, but man these guys are like on meth cranking out the quality material, like the old beatnik Frisco days when everyone was on Benzedrine.

I’m joking, ’bout the speed, not the velocity or the quality.

And in response to your posting, yeah we are a little more southern fried and slow, but we pretty much germinated in your city, and then we were in NY for a while – what was it, 3 years?  I’m back home in Georgia for a spell, saving dough (co-editor Michael Louie is still NY and people contribute from all over). Oh and speaking of dough, Fanzine needs one of those donate buttons too like Paste utilized and The Rumpus just mentioned.

It’s a great thing to see more quality websites spring forth like The Rumpus and HTML Giant (I can’t type those greater than or less than marks or my admin app will fuck up).  The new literary web start ups need to band together and figure out how to loose the reigns of the old farts of publishing, or loose them of their their purses.

Writers need more resources, locations to publish in, in the way people used to write before the days of Gawker, etc.  And oh sure we’ll gawk sometimes too, whatever, but there is no reason we have to feel that writing is an artform left to rich men of letters, copywriters and gossip columnists.

As the old Nicholson joker once said, before Heath Ledger, RIP, what this town needs is an enema.  As the excellent author and Rumpus au pair Stephen Elliot has said, they are doing it “because the web needs an editor.”  And I concur, or a few anyway!

I’d write more right now, but I should get ready for an art opening, another good one at Susan Bridges’ whitespace tonight. The homiest and one of the bestest (sic, whatever I like that word) gallery in Atlanta.

So a big warm welcome – Rumpus readers meet the Fanzine, Fanzine readers meet the Rumpus, and let’s keep a dialogue up.  I need the right code for one of those buttons for starters…

Cheers,
Casey McKinney

P.S. – Try Dennis’ blog, Stephen.  He’s very accessible and supportive there, it’s a great comunity and resource of art and ideas.  His book tours are gonna grab some time now, but he’s always checking in and responding to practically every comment.

P.S.S. – I initiated this “Hey” back to The Rumpus with a comment on a good piece on Cat Power on The Rumpus this morning.  Maybe made more sense then.  I dunno, okay I’m out….