A Tribute To Alarums And Excursions
For 49 years, Lee Gold has published Alarums and Excursions, an APA about the world of gaming. I have found it both fun and professionally useful . . . it was in A&E, for instance, that I saw the work of a fan named Robin Laws and said "This guy can write!" One thing led to another, and we are all the richer for it.
Lee has ended Alarums & Excursions with its 593rd issue because her eyesight no longer allows her to edit the zine. Lisa Padol is organizing a one-time tribute issue, and Spike Jones has reached out to former A&E contributors, silent subscribers, and A&E-adjacent folks to solicit one-sentence/one-paragraph memories and thank-you messages. (People who'd like to write longer contributions, even full-length zines, should contact Lisa at drcpunk [at] labcats [dot] org).
A&E will be missed, and it cannot be replaced. We shall not, as the new saying goes, see its like again.
I have donated my thick, though nowhere near complete, file of A&E to the Museum of Games Ireland, because it is a unique and contemporaneous record of gaming as it was at the time . . . for a very long time. Thank you, Lee, for doing this for so long and for the love of it. Turns out you were doing it for history too.