The first Fair to Flair Quarterly is available for purchase. As you might expect, we want you to buy it.
The first print issues will be available for the special price of $20 (Canadian) until June 16 and be $25 afterward. Subscriptions are available for a discounted price. We’ll also be selling digital copies.
We’ve already given you the basics, but I’d like to talk a little more about what are you getting and who you are supporting.
Here’s exactly what’s in the first issue:
- Rachel Davies of Wrestlegasm looks back at the Stephanie McMahon-Triple H story and how it forever changed her view of pro wrestling.
- Seth Roy of Wrestlespective writes about Bret Hart’s role in making Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon into the biggest feud in wrestling history.
- Fake Vince McMahon of This Is Sports Entertainment argues that he saved pro wrestling from itself when he turned it into sports entertainment.
- Daniella Porcaro of Styles Clash shares how Cody Rhodes has been delightfully blending art and entertainment, always a tricky balance in pro wrestling.
- Robert Dorman of Hitting the Mark writes about the intense pressure wrestlers and athletes face to keep going even when they are hurt.
- Leslie Lee III of Dirty Dirty Sheets presents an international photo essay, with images of wrestling from Tokyo to Montreal to San Antonio to Philadelphia.
- Paul Karnatz of Turnbuckle Zine finds parallels in the artforms of pro wrestling and opera.
- Jason Mann of Wrestlespective writes about the hidden significance of Dude Love, the most short-lived and maligned character portrayed by Mick Foley.
- Razor of Kick-Out!! Wrestling shows how wrestling is a little bit of every major form of entertainment.
- Jason and Razor also debate the value of world championships in 2011 and whether fans should bother to care about them.
- Danielle Stull of Cewsh Reviews comments on the difficulties faced by feminists who want to enjoy pro wrestling and recounts how WWE has portrayed women over the years.
- Joe Drilling of On The Stick demonstrates why the fierce Magnum T.A. v. Tully Blanchard I quit match at Starrcade 1985 is one of the greatest examples of live performance.
- Thomas Holzerman of The Wrestling Blog writes about Sean Waltman’s return as the 1-2-3 Kid at Chikara King of Trios and being a sucker for a good redemption story.
All of that is professionally edited and produced. That’s 12 writers for 11 wrestling websites, a nice little slice of the Internet Wrestling Community. Every writer and editor who contributed to the quarterly will be paid for their work. The more copies we sell, the more each contributor will get. The more we spread the word, the more great writers we can include in the next issue and beyond.
If you love the writing and podcasts provided at these sites and the rest of the Fair to Flair family, we’d especially appreciate your support. The Fair to Flair sites, in 2011 alone, have generated 68 podcasts and well over 1,000 posts. All for free.
One of Fair to Flair’s goal to create our own neighborhood, if you will, in the Internet Wrestling Community, with thoughtful people who want their wrestling and what they read about wrestling to be fun and smart.
We want people who care about making wrestling journalism better, who are interested in how wrestling came to be the way it is, and who actually enjoy wresting and want to encourage the artform to become even better.
So what can you do to support our neighborhood? Well, besides buying the quarterly, you can spread the word on message boards, your blog, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, or wherever wrestling fans lurk these days. Tell your friends and your enemies.
In the past year and a half, since I began Wrestlespective and joined Twitter, I’ve met so many people with really terrific takes on wrestling and found so many great websites with exciting work that you are doing. We’ve brought a lot of them along for the first quarterly, and we hope to have even more in the future. And I know there’s more untapped potential out there.
It’s a beautiful neighborhood.
Jason Mann is co-editor and co-founder of Fair to Flair and founder of Wrestlespective. He is probably engaged in a vigorous debate about wrestling right now on Twitter or Facebook. E-mail him at Editor(at)FairToFlair.com.
Edited by K Sawyer Paul.
