A fanzine is an amateur magazine devoted the science fiction or fantasy or the fannish subculture. SF fandom was born in fanzines, way back in the 20s and 30s. In the old days most of them were mimeographed, and some — the comic fanzines that I cut my teeth on back in high school — were produced by even more arcane and primitive methods of duplication called “ditto” and “hekto” and “spirit duplication,” which wasn’t nearly as cool as it sounds.

Mimeographed fanzines are fewer these days, and ditto is gone entirely (thank ghu). And now we have a new sort of fanzine rising up… the webzine.

It’s past time the Hugo Awards gave some recognition to this new breed. The age of the stencil is gone, the age of the blog has arrived, and the liveliest discourse about SF and fantasy is now taking place on the internet. So when I fill out my Best Fanzine ballot, I will be nominating

PAT’S FANTASY HOTLIST

There are lots of great webzines and book blogs out there, but none as lively, informative, and regular as Pat’s, with its mix of reviews, interviews, commentary, and contests. If you haven’t seen it, check it out at http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/ and see for yourself.

Proprietor Patrick St. Denis is a Dallas Cowboys fan, it’s true, but try not to hold that against him. Rooting for the Cowboys is enough punishment in itself. Pat’s also from Montreal, so what could be more appopriate than giving him a nod at Anticipation, the first Montreal worldcon?

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