ALAN was the name of the RUTH fan club, and was originally conceived as a way of having personal contact with fans without having to reply to individual letters, which always leads to trouble.

RUTH fans were known as 'Children of ALAN' and embraced the concept enthusiastically (apart from those who found the whole thing inexplicable and grotesque), especially the correspondance area known as Readers' Wives.

[Memorable email: "This is not what I expect to find when I go to a readers' wives site. Wanker."]

ALAN took the form of a fanzine, was cheaply produced in black and white, and was intended to be quarterly, but 'occasionally' would suit the reality better. There were ten issues between August 1993 and May 1999, and at its height we produced over 2000 copies. The whole operation was run out of my flat which, thankfully, was next door to a post office.

Below is the archive of ALANs taken from the RUTH website. It tells the story of RUTH (a triumph of hope over ignorance) and, in a perverse way, my life.

If anyone has a copy of ALAN 1, do let me know.

ALAN 2
ALAN 3
ALAN 4
ALAN 4.5
ALAN 5
ALAN 6
ALAN 7
ALAN 8
ALAN 9