The Beast of Enter At Your Own Risk

By John A. Connor

A collection of essays and observations that were originally published in the Electronic APA. This compilation/anthology is part of a new membership drive, designed to encourage those interested in joining in the fun. Membership is limited at present to 15 - though there is always room for an extra one or two.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Murderous-Ink Press
• Release date: Apr 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9780463656389

Book preview

The Beast of EAYOR

According to the Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=EAYOR )

An acronym for Enter At Your Own Risk. (via txt or something)

Person A: Dude this site is the lulz. Do you have web now?

Person B: Yeah, but I’m at work. Is it business approp?

Person A: IDK. There might be boobs in the ads, so EAYOR.

Person B: Cool. I’ll wait ‘till I get home.

(Definition entered by Sl8er8 February 20, 2011)

Enter At Your Own Risk – The Compilation

Being the selected collected pieces that originally appeared in the Electronic Amateur Press Association (eAPA) mailings, which were also later reprinted in the zine

Enter At Your Own Risk.

This is a further gathering of some of those pieces – produced for free as part of an eAPA membership drive.

This publication definitely contains nuts – one of which is named below:-

Text Copyright © John A. ‘Chuck’ Connor

Cover Art Copyright © Robert Keane

https://unsplash.com/@keano16?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText

eBook ISBN: 

This edition is being distributed via Smashwords

The right of John A. ‘Chuck’ Connor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise) without the prior permission of the publisher and/or the person holding the role of eAPA Central Mailer.

Extracts may, however, be reproduced for review/advertising purposes, so long as it credits eAPA and the email listed below.

This publication is in eBook form only, and is distributed – FOR FREE – in order to promote and encourage new membership to the Electronic Amateur Press Association (eAPA)

All initial eAPA membership enquiries should first be sent to the email address at the end of this eBook.

Contents

What Is An Amateur Press Association?

Welcome, My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends!

From Out Of The Dark And Starry Night....

Back On The Chain Gang

Strange New World

The Story So Far

Legs Connor Rides Again!

Meanwhile, Back At The Minky Hause....

Home Is The Hunter....

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch….

Ghostwalks

Little Tommy Tittlemouse

Congratulations!

A Bad Day For Deja Vue

Congratulations!

Catch A Falling Star

The Bicyclic Gene

Of Shoes, and Ships, and Sealing Wax....

Me? I’m Just A Lawnmower

Life At The Cutting Edge....

If You have Enjoyed This

What Is An Amateur Press Association?

An amateur press association (APA) is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group. This can be by email or via snailmail (sometimes referred to as The Papernet rather than The Internet.)

Organization

APAs were a way for widely distributed groups of people to discuss a common interest together in a single forum before the advent of electronic bulletin boards (the original BBS) or the Internet. Many were founded in the 1930s and later by fans of Science Fiction, Horror, Comics, Music, Cinema and other topics as a way to develop writing, design and illustration skills. Many professional journalists, creative writers and artists practised in APA groups and email mailing lists.

A Central Mailer (CM) (sometimes called a Distribution Manager or Official Editor) is the coordinator of an APA. The heart of the role is the distribution of the association's publication to its members. The CM manages the subscription lists and the deadlines to which the association works. The CM is usually responsible for chasing members to ensure maximum participation although some APAs simply accumulate contributions between deadlines and mail out whatever is available at the mailing deadline.

Where the APA requires the submission of multiple hard copies/print offs by contributors, the CM merely collates the contributions. Some APAs involve the submission of camera ready copy; in such cases the CM arranges the reproduction of the material. Most APAs require the members to submit a minimum amount of material in a specified format to a specified number of mailings. This minimum activity (abbreviated to minac) is usually specified as something in the form of (for example): at least two A4 pages to at least two out of every three mailings or "At least 1 contribution per x-many mailings/emails (in the case of electronic apas.). Most paper-based snailmail APAs also require each member to maintain a credit balance in a central funds account to cover common reproduction costs and postage.

In most APAs the CM provides an administrative report listing the contents of each mailing and any business information associated with the association. This can include financial accounts, membership information and some news items. Although most APAs have predetermined deadlines at regular intervals it is normal practice for the CM to specify the next mailing deadlines explicitly in each mailing.

Although some APAs are autocratic, most run on a democratic basis.

Paper-based APAs that require members to submit multiple copies of their contribution (commonly called apazines) usually set a limit to the number of members and run a waiting list if this becomes necessary. In many cases people on the waiting list are permitted to contribute to mailings and may receive excess apazines provided by the members.

History

The first APAs were formed by groups of amateur printers. The earliest to become more than a small informal group of friends was the National Amateur Press Association (NAPA) founded February 19, 1876 by Evan Reed Riale and nine other members in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is still running today.

The first British APA was the British Amateur Press Association founded in 1890. This is a different organisation from that launched by comics fans in 1978 (see below).

The second United States APA was the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA) founded in 1895 by a group of teenagers including William H. Greenfield (aged 14) and Charles W. Heins (aged 17). This became a confederation of small amateur publishers which split into two organisations known interchangeably as UAP and UAAPA. The American Amateur Press Association (AAPA) was formed in 1936 by a secession from what was then called UAPAA.

The first Science Fiction APA was the Fantasy Amateur Press Association (FAPA) formed in 1937. It continues to be active, as is SAPS (Spectator Amateur Press Association) started in 1947.

The first comics APA was started by Jerry Bails in 1964 in the United States. Called CAPA-alpha (aka K-a), it has become the archetype for most subsequent comics APAs.

The difference in a co-op and an APA is that an APA is helmed by a central mailer, to whom the members send copies of their publications.

In a co-op, however, there is no central mailer; the members distribute their own works, and are linked by a group newsletter, a group symbol that appears on each member work, and a group checklist in every member zine.

The APA model was picked up by artists in the 1980s. Groups of artists contributed elements of combined duplicated artworks that omitted the conversational elements of the fandom-based APAs (these pieces are sometimes called assembly art). During this same period, a group of British science fiction and comics fans also set up a short-lived tape APA, contributing music and spoken word to a central anthology.

The latest innovation is a digital distribution, e-APA. Copies of past mailings are archived at the online resource eFanzines (see end of this publication).

(Back to Contents Page)

Enter At Your Own Risk – The Compilation

Welcome, My Friends, To The Show That Never Ends!

Step right this way, lay-dees and gentle-men, step right this way! And you will behold a sight never before witnessed in either hemisphere of this, our most civilized of worlds! Or even on those beyond!

Yes, my friends, for the show that never ends presents to you – the exulted audience – none other than the unmummified but still decaying remains of the being once known as Chuck Connor!

Watch, amazed and mortified, as he proceeds to produce his Paper and eFanzine, suspended in front of your very eyes – with his intelligence and intellect no larger than a silver dime!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, he produces these things to a crazed and insane potpourri of sounds and music which, by its very nature alone, stabs a bent and rusty skewer through the very heart of the meaning of the word obscure!

Lit by countless myriads of twinkling and sparkling rays from tens of thousands of tiny lightbulbs, every nerve, every muscle, every fibre of his metal stability quivers like jelly in a bowl!

Bring your friends, family and children to stare at this spectacle with unashamed macabre curiosity – or they will reproach you in later life for this uncalled for lack in their education on the dangers of self abuse!

But first, here are these massages from our sponsors...

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Skate Press Producktions are available for Trade/Usual, eLoCs/LoCs (Letters of Comment), CoCs (Cards