The realm of science fiction fanzines and fanzine fandom (subtly related but essentially different from the zines described in mainstream publications) is a bit like that great big old turtle that ancient mythologies place under the elephant upon which all of the higher material worlds rest. There at the beginning, the roots of what followed. You may not notice that the turtle is there, but you would miss it if it was gone. But dont worry, it isn't going anywhere anytime soon except maybe out onto the Internet.
All knowledge resides in fanzines, though sometimes it comes across like the million monkeys pounding away at a million typewriters. You have to dig to find it, and some nuggets may be hidden inside something so ugly you want to scream. But without fanzines, without fan-eds and fanwriters, without the Fanzine Writers of America (FWA), there would be a far poorer historical record of fan activities and far less reason to meet the mailman every day.
Although passersby may get the impression that only diehard old-time sf fanzine heads hang around the fanzine room, waxing nostalgic about cranking mimeos day and night in the crazy apartments of the Bozo Bus building, this isn't entirely true. Partially, but not entirely. Furthermore, the fanzine room is more than just a bustling print production facility; it is also meant to be a lounge where you may sit and read, draw, write, chat, make new friends, or just stare off into space.
More and more conventions have created fanzine rooms in recent years. Forty years ago there was less distinction, fewer separate activities. If there was a movie, all 85 fans watched it, then everyone discussed something, then everyone went to dinner.... As fandom grew, adding films, multi-track programming, gaming, costuming, filking and all, fanzine fans felt cast adrift. Huddled around the benches by the elevators, hiding amid the pros in the bar, fanzine fans began to ask for their own spaces calling them Mimeo Rooms, Fan Rooms, Fanzine Rooms, Fan Lounges. Eventually, an entire convention just for fanzine fans was founded. It was last weekend, in fact, in Las Vegas: Corflu 12. If there was a movie, all 185 of us watched it. Then we talked about something and all went out to dinner.... More or less; Las Vegas has a lot of distractions.
At Minicon 30, the fanzine room will be publishing a daily newsletter, The Bozo Bus Tribune. There will be equipment available for people to make their own fanzines. In the past we've had venerable mimeographs, but this year we're using computers, laserwriters, scanners, digitizing tablets, and a high-speed photocopier.
Also, we plan to make Minicon 30 a World Wide Web site on the Internet, with the local host based in the fanzine room and a Web page filled with con information, photographs, live audio feeds....
This is fitting. Fanzines were the original long-distance worldwide fan communication network, dating back to the 1930s. Fans have long been prominent among the early adopters of each new wave of communications technology.