Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Prentiss Riddle Apazine Collection
Date(s)
- 1971-1994 (Creation)
Extent
3 boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Prentiss Riddle was born in 1959 and grew up in Fort Worth, Texas and Stillwater, Oklahoma. From a young age, he was an avid reader of science fiction.
Riddle entered the zine scene around 1971, at the age of 12 years. His older cousin Tommy Riddle invited him to join the APA Myriad. This marked the beginning of his interest in zines and self-publishing. Riddle was active in Myriad through his early teens, creating and editing apazines such as Pshaw!, P. Riddle Lumber Co., Mimeo, Ker-Plunk, and many others. He also contributes to other APAs such as Argos, with zines including Lazarus Long Lives! t-shirt, Hmmmmmmm, and Lonely are the Unshared Stars. He attended UT Austin from 1978-1984 and stayed on as an employee in the CS Department through 1986. Starting in 1983 or 1984, he became active in various campus political groups. Drawing on hid background in zines, I wrote and edited some of the newsletters and flyers in the University Peace and Justice Coalition materials.
Riddle currently resides in Portugal.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This collection consists of several apazines to which Prentiss Riddle contributed individual zines. The APAs represented are Argos and Myriad, which take as their subject science fiction, and Lingua (later titled Linguica), which involves explorations of language and languages. The collection contains a few additional materials, including individual zines.
Fanlore.org defines an "apa" (or "amateur press association") as "a kind of fan publication in which all the materials, generally letters, would be sent to a central person, who would simply copy the entire packet in the cheapest possible way (e.g. mimeograph, spirit duplicating, xerography, offset printing; APAs far predate the photocopy machine.) Sometimes each of the contributors sends as many copies of their submission as there are subscribers to the central mailer of the zine, who then collates and mails these, and does not have to take care of the printing.
APAs were, and are, important media for fannish conversation, discussion, and interaction: sort of a fannish mailing list or LiveJournal in print sent by snail mail. "
Apa members were expected to make regular or at least periodic contributions to the mailings (called "minac", or MINimum Activity). The role of the Central Mailer, sometimes called an Official Editor or Central Editor, often rotates between members of the apa. In addition, apa participants often change the title and/or format of their apazines from time period to time period. For example, Prentiss Riddle changed the title of his contributions almost monthly between issues of the apas of which he was a member.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by Prentiss Riddle as 2023_0080 June 6, 2023. Items had originally been donated to the University of Texas-Austin as part of a larger collection, but these items were removed from the donation and instead given to Cushing Library.