Factsheet Five
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| Factsheet Five issue 64 cover | |
| Format | |
|---|---|
| Editor | Mike Gunderloy ("Æditor", 1982-1991), Hudson Luce (1991), R. Seth Friedman (1992-1998) |
| Publisher | Pretzel Press |
| Origin | Alhambra, CA, USA |
| Language | English |
| Frequency | NA |
| Active | 1982 - 1998 |
| Topics | Reviews, Zines |
| Number of Issues | 64 |
| Follows | NA |
| Precedes | NA |
| Associated Publications | FringeWare Review, Unshaved Truths |
| Website | factsheet5.org |
Factsheet Five was a periodical mostly consisting of short reviews of privately produced printed matter along with contact details of the editors and publishers.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, its comprehensive reviews (literally thousands in each issue) made it the most important publication in its field, heralding the wider spread of what would eventually be called fanzine or zine culture.
Before the widespread adoption of the web and e-mail beginning around 1994, publications such as Factsheet Five formed a vital directory for connecting like-minded people. It was the literary equivalent to such phenomena as International Sound Communication in the period of cassette culture.
History
The magazine was originally published in 1982 by Mike Gunderloy on a spirit duplicator in his bedroom while he lived in an Alhambra, California slanshack. The original focus was science fiction fanzines (the title comes from a short story by science fiction author John Brunner), but it included other reviews. Bob Grumman contributed a regular column on avant-garde poetry from 1987 to 1992.
Gunderloy later moved to Rensselaer, New York, where he continued to publish. By 1987, he was running a zine BBS, one of the first associated with an underground publication. In 1990, Cari Goldberg Janice and (briefly) Jacob Rabinowitz joined as co-editors. Gunderloy quit publishing Factsheet Five following the completion of Issue #44 in 1991.
Hudson Luce purchased the rights to Factsheet Five and published a single issue, Issue #45, with the help of BBS enthusiast Bill Paulouskas, cartoonist Ben Gordon, writer Jim Knipfel, and artist Mark Bloch, who had authored a mail art-related column called "Net Works" during the Gunderloy years.
R. Seth Friedman then published the magazine for five years in San Francisco, with the help of Christopher Becker and Jerod Pore, until Issue #64 in 1998. Circulation grew to 16,000 during that time.
Gunderloy currently works as a computer programmer and farmer. He co-authored the book SQL Server 7 in Record Time ISBN 0-7821-2155-1.
In other media
Jerod Pore collected articles and reviews from the print version of Factsheet Five, and with them produced Factsheet Five - Electric, one of the first zines to use the Usenet newsgroup alt.zines. Beginning in the late 1980s, Gunderloy and Pore also established a substantial online presence on the WELL, an influential, private dial-up BBS.
Three books were published based on Factsheet Five: How to Publish a Fanzine by Gunderloy (1988; Loompanics), The World of Zines, by Gunderloy and Janice (1992; Penguin) ISBN 0-14-016720-X, and The Factsheet Five Zine Reader by Friedman (1997; Three Rivers Press) ISBN 0-609-80001-9. Until 1989, Gunderloy collected and, in turn, made available several versions of the Gemstone File. A number of Gunderloy's zine reviews from Factsheet Five also appeared in edited form in High Weirdness by Mail.
Mike Gunderloy's Factsheet Five Collection of over 10,000 zines and mail art is now held at the New York State Library in Albany, New York, where it occupies 300 cubic feet (8.5 m^3). However, only about 4000 zines in the collection have been cataloged. About 1/4 of the zines in the collection are listed on Excelsior, the New York State Library's electronic catalog; staff of the Manuscripts & Special Collection can help locate other items. Two hundred and forty zines that R. Seth Friedman donated are in the collection of the San Francisco Public Library
Downloads
| Issue | User | Link | Notes |
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| Issue 01 | |||
| Issue 02 | |||
| Issue 03 | |||
| Issue 04 | |||
| Issue 05 | |||
| Issue 06 | |||
| Issue 07 | |||
| Issue 08 | |||
| Issue 09 | |||
| Issue 10 | |||
| Issue 11 | |||
| Issue 12 | |||
| Issue 13 | |||
| Issue 14 | |||
| Issue 15 | |||
| Issue 16 | |||
| Issue 17 | |||
| Issue 18 | |||
| Issue 19 | |||
| Issue 20 | |||
| Issue 21 | |||
| Issue 22 | |||
| Issue 23 | |||
| Issue 24 | |||
| Issue 25 | |||
| Issue 26 | |||
| Issue 27 | |||
| Issue 28 | |||
| Issue 29 | |||
| Issue 30 | |||
| Issue 31 | |||
| Issue 32 | |||
| Issue 33 | |||
| Issue 34 | |||
| Issue 35 | |||
| Issue 36 | |||
| Issue 37 | |||
| Issue 38 | |||
| Issue 39 | |||
| Issue 40 | |||
| Issue 41 | |||
| Issue 42 | |||
| Issue 43 | |||
| Issue 44 | |||
| Issue 45 | |||
| Issue 46 | |||
| Issue 47 | |||
| Issue 48 | |||
| Issue 49 | |||
| Issue 50 | |||
| Issue 51 | |||
| Issue 52 | |||
| Issue 53 | |||
| Issue 54 | |||
| Issue 55 | |||
| Issue 56 | |||
| Issue 57 | |||
| Issue 58 | |||
| Issue 59 | |||
| Issue 60 | |||
| Issue 61 | |||
| Issue 62 | |||
| Issue 63 | |||
| Issue 64 |
External Links
Official Website (defunct)
