Howdy!

issue one, published around August 95

Howdy!Yes, it's yet another snide parody of everyone's favorite target-marketing group! Welcome to Preparation X, the zine that coats, soothes, relieve . . . no, wait, that's not it . . . the zine that neutralizes ten times more vitriolic shortwave radio bile . . . no, hold on, I'll get it . . . ah, yes, the zine that goes after the inflamed opinions of swollen media wherever it finds them, inserting its little suppositories of cynicism where they can do some good and smoothing on the ointment of enthusiasm as needed.

Preparation X is based in the Fertile Crescent of central North Carolina, which encompasses most of the state from Asheville to Wilmington when we're feeling grandiose, and a twenty-mile radius around the Waffle House at the Apex exit off I-40 when we're being all shy and humble. If we talk about this area a lot, it's because we like where we live.

At this point a couple of brief introductions are probably in order (although all you really need to know is that we enjoy obsessing over the machinery that drives society and laughing at its shoddy workmanship):

Skip has been doing a zine on and off for the last eight years called Zoiks! After burning out almost entirely on printing fiction issue after issue, he decided that Stay Free! would be an excellent outlet for his own looney essay-like ramblings. When Stay Free!'s Carrie moved on to bigger and better things, Skip was left with that burning writer's itch that just wouldn't go away. Preparation X is his way to soothe those gnawing pains while indulging in his various media-oriented obsessions. He is so driven by the perception of truth and its portrayal in the media realm, that he will fabricate one hoax story per issue to keep the reader on his or her toes. If you contact him via the addresses or phone numbers given and name the faux article, he will print your name in the next issue and together you can laugh about this secret "news item."

Besides publishing Preparation X, Skip makes noise in a band (BeatlesS), shows educational films (A/V Geeks), and is a member of that zany Wifflefist collective.

Todd is just another underemployed former high school teacher who's trying to convince himself that he really is living just the sort of life he wants to be living. He thinks there are too many glossy zines in the world, and can't believe there is no queer content in this one, a situation he promises to remedy in the second issue. He co-hosts a weekly talk radio show on WXYC 89.3 FM in Chapel Hill, and is soon to expand his painfully swelling media empire into cable access TV. He is not now, nor has he ever been, a Mormon.

PREPARATION X · August 1995 · A quarterly publication riddled with funny things, silly things, pointless things, important things, and comics.

Editors Skip Elsheimer · Todd Morman

Proofreaders Lisa C. Hyatt · David Jordan

Contributors Jeff Butterworth · Drew Davidson · Skip Elsheimer · Lisa C. Hyatt · David Jordan · Todd Morman · Michael Pilmer · Jason Torchinsky · Brian Walsby

If you think you can write better than us and would like to write for PrepX, drop us a line or give us a call. We're looking for writers who are witty, literate, good spellers and who think that the Three Stooges are funny on many different levels. We're not responsible for unsolicited submissions, crimes commited in our name or for that last election.

To contact us about ad rates and submissions:

Preparation X, P.O. Box 33561, Raleigh, NC 27636 USA

fax: (919) 833-8536 email: Skip, Todd

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