This silly illo talks about SFF zine culture, where people who make zines exchange them for everyone else’s zines, and are expected to read ALL the zines and respond individually with letters to every single one. I was amazed at the high expectations when I first discovered this underlying element of zine culture. ‘A little light reading’ indeed!
While reading a few zines is interesting, I prefer the bulk of my reading to come from a similarly high stack of books or academic papers!
Ian Gunn, creator of these silly illos (illustrations), was a beloved award-winning artist based in Melbourne. Cancer took him from us too soon.
Ian left a legacy including lots of great illustrations. Many of these illustrations are available for sale.
Victoria’s science fiction convention, Continuum, occasionally presents the Ian Gunn Memorial Award recognising the ‘unsung heroes’ of fandom: people consistently working in the background who never expect any recognition of their efforts. This commemorates Ian’s selfless efforts to reach out to others, encouraging others and thereby building the science fiction community.
K’rin Pender-Gunn, Ian’s widow, gave Dark Matter Zine permission to republish Ian’s artwork. Thanks, K’rin!
