A Pose By Any Other Name Hugh Mungus? I supposed to believe an article by Hugh Mungus? I came across this writer's name over at ufodigest.com . Sorry, that name sounds too much like a joke. Even if it's his real name, I can't take anything written by him seriously. It requires a humongous leap of faith. What's next? A flying saucer report from Biggus Dickus? There's the fringe newspaper, The Sovereign , that reads like The Onion on a bad hit of LSD. Check out its line-up of dubious bylines: Donald "Pogo" Meserlin, PE; Socrcha Faal; T. Weed; Putty; and even Death Dentist. And let's not overlook Sarah Conner, Human Resistance Leader, and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. Fiction comes to life? I don't think so. Trust is important when it comes to appearances. And you can trust me or my name isn't Ray X.
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80 Years Old And Still Saucering He's been there from the beginning, back in the days when the buzzword was flying saucers, not UFOs. He's been involved both in ufology -- documenting strange cases but also exposing hoaxers -- and ufoology -- perpetrating a few hoaxes of his own. A combination of believer, skeptic and trickster all rolled into one. Jim Moseley will be 80 years old on August 4th. Note to UFO researchers: better interview Jim now or before you know it, time will fly by and the opportunity will be lost. Best wishes, cards, money can be sent to him at PO Box 1709, Key West, Florida 33041. You can email him at saucer_smear@yahoo.com -- indirectly, that is. He has an associate editor that will pass along your messages. Jim eschews the digital revolution, especially what he calls the Dreaded Net. I suspect he doesn't trust all the alien tech given to us from the Roswell Crash. That's why he still puts together each issue of his non-scheduled zine, Sau
Publish Or Privish
Privish. A word formed from "privately published."
In a negative sense it means a strategy by a book publisher to sabotage the release of a controversial book. For example, the book "DuPont: Behind the Nylon Curtain" by Gerard Colby was privished after a DuPont family member raised a stink after seeing an advanced copy of the book. Due to pressure, the publisher Prentice-Hall cut the number of copies for distribution and slashed the advertising budget.
In a neutral or positive sense privish can also mean a choice by a writer to limit distribution of printed works to very few people. The advantage of this type of privishing is that is only shared with readers who are really interested in the work, not its format or status.
Some people consider this type of privishing in a negative light because it implies that the members of the writer's inner circle won't criticize the writing. I don't mind criticism if it's
Zine Or Blog: Why The Great Divide? There was another issue I wanted to discuss in my last post but decided that it warranted its own entry. My bastard hybrid zine. I started as a paper zinester and over the years I find myself a blogger first, then a zinester. I think some people are upset that my zine has become a collection of my blog posts. Why do I think that? Well, when a zinester says that paper should never reproduce photons, that online and offline writing must be separate, I kinda notice. I also notice when a zinester states that he will never put email and web addresses in his paper publication; he only deals with snail mail. Each to his own but... Why does it have to be one or the other? It seems a creator has to declare his allegiance to either the paper brigade or the digital legion, nothing in-between. In fact, some of the paper types act as if the Web is evil incarnate, destroying their dead tree way of life. Years ago there was one zinester who warned to stay away
Ray X Violates Key Zinester Commandment! I have broken one of the sacred commandments of print zinesterdom: THOU SHALL NOT CHARGE MORE THAN ONE DOLLAR FOR A ZINE THAT RUNS EIGHT PAGES OR LESS I became aware of this vile transgression through Randy Robbins of Narcolepsy Press Review . He wrote a review of my zine, Ray X X-Rayer (#80), mentioning that it comes out "pretty regularly" and that the last issue feature images of crucified Santas on the cover, a layout he thought was "cool." Then he goes on why he has a problem with the latest issue. At this point I thought he would write about the contents of #80, why he didn't care for my articles. After all, a review should at least give the reader a brief lowdown on what subjects the writor covers, his POV and style. If I was reviewing Narco I would summarize what is included besides short zine takes. But I'm here to review a review. Most of Randy's words regarding XR #80 isn't the contents and my