There is a lot of information on this site. What have you come here to find out about?
| What's "filk?" | How do I get Xenofilkia? | How do I contribute a song to Xeno? | Who is Lee Gold |
| Index to past issues | Sample songs from past issues of Xenofilkia |
Jump
to Links |
Xenofilkia is still coming out.
I usually define filk as songs that interest science fiction fans: primarily songs about fantasy or science fiction or related topics. Related topics include computers, roleplaying games, mythology, science fiction fandom, history, current events, puns, and a number of other things I can't think of right now. For other definitions, check out rec.music.filk.
SF fans have been writing songs (sometimes parodies, sometimes to
original music) since at least the 1940s, but they didn't start calling
them "filksongs" until the early 1950s. That was when Lee Jacobs
mistyped "folk" as "filk" in a fanzine article on folk music. Karen
Kruse
(later Karen Anderson) liked the word and used it to describe the
long-standing fannish phenomenon in an article for "The Zed #780,"
her SAPSzine (December 1955), and the use caught on.
Karen's article
See
Debbie Ridpath Ohi's
Filk FAQ for more info about filking.
Xenofilkia comes out every even month (February, April, June, August, October and December). Each Xenofilkia has about twenty pages of filksongs and weighs 3 ounces. The first issue was October of 1988, and issues have been appearing punctually ever since.
If you want to buy Xenofilkia, please contact Lee Gold: leeway@leegoldfilk.com. Do not write Barry, he is the webmaster, not the publisher.
The cheapest way to get a copy of Xenofilkia is to contribute a song you wrote — one with original lyrics which is not generally available. A contributor gets the issue s/he contributes to for free and the next issue for postage only. (Free if you get Xenofilkia by email.)
Xenofilkia costs US $1.50 per issue plus shipping. All back issues of Xenofilkia are still in print. They're US $1.50 each plus shipping.
Non-US buyers may send currency or a cheque in your own national
currency. UKans may contact Lee Gold to be put in touch with a UKan who
has a US$ cheque account. Payment may also be made by PayPal to Lee Gold's
account. (Your payment will be debited the PayPal fee, which is 3.49% plus
49¢, plus an additional 2.2% if your original currency is not US$.)
Use
https://thefeecalculator.com/
to see
how much to send to cover PayPal's fee.
Do Not send a PayPal payment to Lee as "send money to friends and family." You are paying for goods.
Current shipping rates are:
| Destination | Postage |
| US | $2.04 |
| Canada | $3.86 |
| Europe | $5.78 |
For further details, see http://ircalc.usps.gov/
Here is a conversion table for anyone who wants to figure out which issues came out near a certain date.
Please state if the song has been published elsewhere, on paper or electronically. Please don't send copyrighted songs or melodies without the writer's permission. If your song has an original tune, please send one of the following:
You can send a formatted song in Word97-compatible or RTF format.
DEADLINE: no later than the 7th day of every odd month:
Jan, Mar, May, July, Sep, Nov
Xenofilkia welcomes contributions from everybody, but is not in any way obligated to print each song submitted. The only way to ensure you will receive an issue of Xenofilkia is to send money.
Since the cost of getting Xenofilkia is not predictable in advance (due to post office rate changes, contribution credit, etc.), no fixed rate subscriptions are offered. Instead, you should send a check or money order made payable to Lee Gold. I'll note your remaining balance on the envelope of each issue I mail you. (Special rates for dealers.)
Lee Gold also publishes infrequent, unscheduled anthologies of what she
considers to be the better filksongs that she and a few of her
acquaintances have written. This is the
FILKER UP
series.
(Now Available:
a cumulative index
of Filker Up.)
Other filk publications available from Lee Gold
Lee has published the
CYNTHIA MCQUILLIN SONGBOOK,
a compilation of lyrics of Cynthia McQuillin's songs —
everything that Dr. Jim Robinson, Kristoph Klover & Margaret Davis,
Harold Stein, Mary Creasey, Kay Shapero, Bob Kanefsky, Alan Thiesen, and
Lee Gold could find in 2013, with illustrations:
$10 plus postage.
see the CYNTHIA MCQUILLIN SONGBOOK webpage
for more information, including available formats, postage rates, and a
list of songs.
Still available as of July, 2021.
Lee has published a book of DR. JANE'S SONGS:
A compilation of all of Dr. Jane's songs that Dr. Jim Robinson could find
in his archives, plus a few that Lee Gold found from other sources, with
illustrations.
$10 plus postage.
See the Dr. Jane's Songs webpage for more
information, including available formats, postage rates, and a list of
songs.
Still available as of July, 2021.
Poet and filker
Tom Digby
wrote a number of filksongs, instrumental pieces, and spoken word pieces.
These are available:
Tom Digby's music on the Xeno website
Lee Gold also publishes a monthly roleplaying game APA: Alarums and Excursions, which won Origins Awards in 2000, 2001, and 2002.
This page maintained by Barry Gold
