Karen Ablaze, writer of the zine called.. well.. Ablaze (from 1987 – 1993), has written a tribute in the Guardian to fanzines and those who create them. It’s part of the “Cribs’ takeover” section (a series in the music section given over to indie artists. Or something along those lines). While it mostly focuses on her experiences in the Manchester and wider UK indie scenes from the late 1980s onwards, it’s equally familiar to those of us from other zine-inspired scenes. I especially like the description of zinesters as “lone wolves, geeky kids with satchels full of propaganda” True then and true today. The article lists some more recent zine fare, and I got quite a kick out of seeing zines like Ricochet Ricochet name checked in a national newspaper. And the Cribs have just gone up a notch in my book for making this happen.