At the urging of Chairman Steve Keeter, I placed my name in for consideration as a member of the long-running (and personally beloved) United Fanzine Organization. The U.F.O., as members call it, is “a co-op of small-press publishers who mutually aid each other in the promotion and production of their titles, and the promotion of higher standards of quality in the alternative press.” Their main newsletter publication is called Tetragrammaton Fragments (past issues available here).
I don’t have any new books yet to offer as a submission, so I used this site and its growing library of content that I either published or contributed to. Amazingly, the members took that as sufficient level of quality/skill/interest/whatever and voted to admit me. It’s so flattering to be admitted to one of the (at least in my opinion) most prestigious groups in small press on the basis of…vaporware. No pressure!
Seriously, I do have a book in the works, and that will be my first U.F.O. member publication of this round as member. “This round”? Yes, I am returning to the U.F.O. I was a member in high school from 1987-1989, I believe…I was admitted in Tetragrammaton Fragments 101 and believe I rolled off with issue 111, meaning roughly 20 months of fun and camaraderie with some of small press’s nicest folks.
And here I am, back again after 32 years. Amazing. It’s GREAT to be back!
If you are a publisher of small press fanzines and want more information on the U.F.O., contact Chairman Steve Keeter via the U.F.O. Facebook page.
Phoenix Productions 