Updated December 7, 1997

Hello and welcome to the Mystery Date web site. Mystery Date is a fanzine devoted to my obsession with used books -- particularly old sex and dating manuals, etiquette and self-help books, and health, beauty and fashion guides. Look, I can't explain it -- I just love 'em. If you really want to get on my good side, give me a 40s, 50s or 60s home economics textbook. I'll be your friend forever (figuratively speaking, of course).

I've been digging through thrift store book sections, rummage sales and remaindered book tables for years now. I know what it's like when your heart stops as you catch sight of something incredible that you never knew existed, the ownership of which will make your life worth living, if only because you can show it off to your unsuspecting (and quite often unimpressed) friends.

I'm also acquainted with the opposite: waking up in the middle of the night with the realization that only a fool would pass up Bunny Yeager's Model Diet book, and that, yes, you are that fool. (Bunny Yeager, by the way, was the pin-up model turned photographer who worked with Bettie Page, among others. Now you, too, know what a fool I am.)

While I don't intend for this site to replace the paper version of Mystery Date: One Gal's Guide to Good Stuff, I would like it to introduce the zine to the unsuspecting public, as well as provide something of interest to current readers. To that end, the Mystery Date web site will spotlight my Find of the Month or So (newly updated on 12/28/97!) -- be it a book, record or other tantalizing tidbit -- as well as selections from past issues. And while we're at it, you can not only check out my plans for the upcoming Mystery Date, but some links to cool sites and publications as well (which were last updated 12/7/97).

So start wandering. Have fun, be safe, and let me know what you think.

P.S. If you're wondering, yes, that is me on the cover of the V/Search Zines! book.

P.P.S. While you're waiting for MD#6 or an updated Find of the Month or So, why don't you check out some of the articles I've been writing instead of working on my zine and/or web site: Heartbreak Cuisine: Culinary Advice for the Suddenly Single, Pretty in Pink, or my holiday pieces Merry Christmas: How Marketing Made (and Sometimes Failed to Make) Holidays, or Chocolate Love, all of which appeared in the S.F. Bay Guardian, as did these book reviews: John Gilmore's Laid Bare and Karen Essex and James Swanson's Bettie Page: The Life of a Pin-up Legend.