Fillers

From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959

Stuff stuck in to fill up a page which the regular longer pieces in a fanzine don't cover. "Frequently the fillers are better than the material listed in the table of contents", observes Speer. The oldest are odd science snippets and the well-known "A quatrain is a four-line rime It's never out of place It may be used at any time To fill an empty space". Cartoons, quotations, and short bits not long enough to give a title to often perform a filler function; as do expiration notices, apologies for the poor duplication, and such stuff, and the little pointless sketches Boob Stewart calls fillos. But most fillers consist of remarks conversationally addressed to the readers by the editor, expressing his opinion on something, an interesting thing he ran across the other day, something he forgot to say in an article he wrote, or a whimsy like "'I go now, Earthling; perhaps I shall return', said the vampire, vanishing."

From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944

Stuff stuck in to fillup a page which the regular longer pieces in a fanzine don't cover; frequently the fillers are better than the material listed in the table of contents. The oldest fillers are probably odd science items and the well-known "A quatrain is a four-line rime It's never out of place; It maybe be used at any time To fill an empty space." Cartoons, quotations, and short bits not long enuf to give a title to often perform a filler function, as do expiration notices, apologies for the poor duplication, and such stuff; but most fillers consist of remarks conversationally addressed to the readers by the editor, expressing his opinion on something, an interesting thing he ran across the other day, something he forgot to say in an article he wrote, or a whimsy like: I go now, Earthling; perhaps I shall return," said the vampire, vanishing.

See also: Lino, Fillo and Filler (a one-shot).

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Publishing