Reviews from Eric: Walking Man, Juichy Ya Ya

WALKING MAN by Tim W. Brown
I got a postcard promoting this book a while back and it sounded interesting, but I wasn't about to pay $15 for it. I'm starting to come around to the POV Jeff Somers has espoused in INNER SWINE from time to time- paying full price for any book is foolish and buying new books when used books are just as readable and much cheaper is a waste. So I was happy to get sent this book for review because the odds of me buying it were slim. However if you're interested in zines and aren't against paying full price for books you can do much worse than this one. WALKING MAN tells the story of one Brian Walker, publisher of the zine Walking Man who through circumstances beyond his control becomes the most famous zinester in the world. There's a lot of semi inside zine humor (such as the holier than thou clique that declare Brian to be a sell out because he dares to try and get his zine good distribution. It's funny, but we've all stumbled across folks like this in real life.)It's a satire, but it's an affectionate one with a lot of mostly good-natured jabs, but most importantly it's a good, well-written story that by the end will have you really caring about the characters. 184 pages . Published by Bronx River Press. Available from bronxriverpress.com, amazon.com, spdbooks.org or bookstores

JUICHY YA YA
I always kind of like these kinds of zines. Just kind of a random hodge-podge of stuff. One issue features an anti-Facebook article, and piece arguing for a naturalistic approach to Scrabble, a one page comic and a review of King Cat. A quick read, not exactly in depth, but pretty enjoyable. 8 pages 5.5 x 8.5 no price listed PO Box 99 Chewton, Vic., Australia 3451 adamford@labyrinth.net.au www.labyrinth.net.au/~adamford