Wanda and the fat slob....

[Nigel E. Richardson]

Living in the UK, I'd never heard of the Anderson Valley Advertiser until
the Wanda T. letters started being discussed here. But today, in the mail,
I got the latest two issues of PATHETIC LIFE: Diary of a Fat Slob, a zine
put out by Doug, 537 Jones Street #2386, San Francisco, CA94102 ($3 a
monthly issue in the US, $5 outside - cash only), in which he sez he's been
contacted by Fred Gardner at the AVA to "unravel" the movie references in
the letters. Coincidence? Well, yes, obviously. But as this list seems to have
suddenly gone quiet I thought I'd better say something. And PATHETIC LIFE
is a great little zine, even if Doug hadn't read any Pynchon until the AVA got
in touch. 

Although on page 20 of Issue 11, he does say "if this zine is brilliant,
I'm Thomas fuckin' Pynchon". Hmmm, if Pynchon did spend the 80s writing
intense letters to the local paper, the 90s thing would be to put out an
intense fanzine, nicht wahr?

>From PATHETIC LIFE #11, April 27th 1995 (same day as the above quote):

"...Toward the back of the shop, there's what we call the Risque Room:
a small assortment of recycled porn and antique sexual devices. Today
Stevi asked me to apply a coating of Scotch Gold brand protective
varnish to several exquistely carved wooden dildos.
    "I thought to myself as I greased up each dildo, stroking it slowly
till it glistened, 'Yes, indeedy, here's something I know how to do.
I've had years of training towards this day.'
    "Wore a blond wig, to enhance my feminine side, but seeing myself
in the mirror, I couldn't help noticing, 'I'm a dumpy-looking woman.'
    "'So was I,' said Stevi. 'So was I.'
    "'And what about the boobs?' I asked. 'I'm suffering some serious
boob envy here.' But the store doesn't have any bras that fit me, so
I went out fliering as flat as the sidewalk.
    "Incidentally, I suppose most shops in most cities wouldn't consider
it advantageous to have a fat bearded man in drag loitering on the sidewalk
out front. San Francisco, fortunately, isn't most cities, and the shop 
where I work isn't most shops."

No, honest, I'm not suggesting Pathetic Doug is Thomas Pynchon. But he
might just be Zoyd Wheeler o-or an aspect of Tyrone Slothrop that escaped
from the Zone....

- Nigel E. Richardson

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