Daniel Drennan, Inquisitor

Age: 33

Selection:"Looking for Mr. Isaak," by Marlene Taylor (page 132)

Recent review(from Factsheet Five): "One excellent zine. It's weird, wonderful, and worthwhile."

When did you launch your zine? What inspired you to do so?

A bunch of different factors led up to the zine that is out there today. It originally started as a newsletter that i was sending out to friends and family—easier than writing 100 letters. It then became a per-zine for awhile and then went through about 50 design iterations as I learned desktop publishing tech. While in grad school, I had an idea for a zine about technology and culture, which was to be called Networker. I melded that with Inquisitor in 93 when the first offset issue came out.

Why publish a zine?
Independent voices are so important in a world of corporate media culture. If I didn't do this I'd go crazy.

What can you tell us about the selection you provided for "The Book of Zines"?
Daniel:What Inquisitor does that other so-called tech zines don't do I think is tie in real life with technology. It's not about the tech as such; it's about life and what we do. The Chris Isaak story accompanied a piece on surveillance; it was about the traces we leave and what others do with them.
Marlene Taylor: It's all 100 percent true. Chris, if you're reading this, I'm not stalking you. Honest.

Any general tips for aspiring zinesters?
Start small and grow slowly; exploit old technologies and advance as you can—Inquisitor started as a Xeroxed zine. always be able to pay for each issue up front. Do what your heart tells you.

What's your favorite part of doing a zine?
Finding people of like mind; creating a community from the printed (and electronic) word.

In my other life, I'm a:
Designer, programmer, writer.

Fan Mail
New York Diaries (book)

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