Gentle nerdly readers, we know there are many things that make you sad. Darth Weinstein’s claw-like grip on Fanboys. Lawsuits from Big Meanie George Lucas. The fact that you can’t take Alert Nerd with you and read it while you’re riding the bus or sitting on the can or experiencing a company-mandated corporate training retreat.
But wait! We’ve found the solution to at least one of these perplexing dilemmas! And so we present to you our latest brainchild: a zine. But instead of time-warping back to our college days and busting out the staplers and Xerox machines, we’re presenting it to you as a shiny PDF. You can read it on your computer screen or print it out and tote it wherever you so desire.
Within, you will find essays, fiction and general silliness exploring geek culture and the nerd experience. The pieces are a bit longer than what you will generally find on the site (in some cases, spanning an unnecessary, er, epic amount of pages) and they all center on a theme chosen by the editors. For our inaugural issue, we’ve chosen…pon farr. Delicious.
Grok #1: Spring ‘08, Pon Farr (PDF)
Highlights include…
Scintillating fiction from Matt Springer and Sarah Kuhn!
Thrilling explorations of the mixed geek marriage by Jeff Stolarcyk!
Slashy musings, mused by Chris Stewart!
Amazingcrazy words on the online love life of a semi-geek, downloaded by semi-geek Ken Simon!
Brilliant breakdowns of why pon farr is the best geek pick-up strategy evAR, as tested by Sarah McKinley Oakes!
Mind-blowing insights on con hook-ups!
Possibly tasteless nerd pick-up lines!
And much, much more! So read on, print out and/or share with your friends! And we’ll be doing this quarterly, so come back this summer for more!
NAME: Sarah
NAME: Matt
NAME: Jeff
NAME: Chris
I know that my opinion is disqualified by being one of the elite Grok Contributing Staff, but that was really awesome. Sarah, your story was the bestest.
Thank you, Jeff! Your essay was great as well, particularly the strangely touching ending. (Let’s go Toros!)
Not an editor or anything like that but I really liked it. ‘Daddys little Ewok’ put words to something I’m going through at this very moment.
Hey, thanks, seth! How old’s your kid?
Yeah, I’ve seen those photos of Starfleet Admiral Jonah, Seth… 😉
Also, amazingcrazy is the best portmanteau word evar.
Ochumet easy! Already all, pancakes, know about it except me