In My Mailbox 9-18-09

Hola,

Today may well be the best weather since the formation of the world, at least in Hoboken, NJ. So naturally I put on my walking pants and wandered over to my PO Box. The children teased me cruelly as I huffed and puffed my way there, but I made it! I am an hero.

Aside from some letters (including one from a prisoner who had his issue kicked back because I dared to include a sticker, which is a new reason for the prison system to treat me like I'm trying to raise an army of felons with which to conquer America), I got:

- Worst Future Ever! #1 and #2 ($1 / trade, JD, POB 340971, Columbus, OH 43234; worstfutureever.blogspot.com). A neat, slim digest-sized that considers the various ways in which the future sucks in the imagination. Issue #1 has as a theme the Red Menace and explores films like Red Dawn and Amerika in brief essays; #2 gives the 1990s the same treatment.

- Johnny America #7 ($4 US, $5 Canadian in Canada, 3 pounds for UK, POB 44-2001, Lawrence, Kansas, 66044; www.johnnyamerica.net/store) The McSweeneys of zines returns to my mailbox with a nice-looking issue made of heavy, good quality paper, a nifty purple cover, and many words. Which is, I confess, how I like my zines.

And that was it. I tned to get a lot more correspondence than zines these days, for some reason. Perhaps folks want to keep the mail coming but aren't putting out issues any more - who knows? I myself just went from 4 issues to 2 a year, so maybe it's just the continental drift of the DIY pub world.

J