Fanorama.

Fanorama is a Rhode Island-based zine by journalist and activist REB (b. Richard E. Bump, May 25, 1956, Portland, ME, USA). An affiliated zine distro and film project operate under the same name. First published in 1992, Fanorama emerged as part of the queercore movement, largely inspired by the zine J.D.s (edited by G.B. Jones and Bruce LaBruce), and the Toronto scene from which J.D.s came. The first issue was co-edited with Stevec Bones. Initially a punk-edged collage of gay porn and commentary, REB soon added a strong, anti-assimilationist political voice, turning the zine into an artful version of the weekly "Queerbeat" column he contributed to Rhode Island's alternative arts rag, The NicePaper. The Fanorama tag line at the time became, "For those who want a little smut with their politics, or a little politics with their smut." As REB's political leanings grew heated, Fanorama began to generate controversy, particularly as it addressed racism and sexism in the gay mainstream establishment; one detractor in the media called REB a "kiddie pornographer-turned-moral watchdog". Over the course of its publication, Fanorama has run interviews and photo essays with a host of counter-culture heroes. After publishing an issue in which REB mourned his break-up with future Juha frontman Collin Clay, Fanorama took a turn towards pagan spirituality, influenced greatly by his work with the Radical Faeries. Later issues of Fanorama take the form of a prisoners' rights magazine (though it retains the porn and spiritual angles), influenced initially by the stories prisoners sent to its "Letters" section. REB has since used Fanorama as a vehicle to publish prisoners' works. -- Based on "Fanorama" at Zinewiki.com.

Latest issue consulted: Issue 7 (Dec. 1993).