The Duplex Planet...#184 is now [out] and 185 will be just the usual eight weeks later.
[David Greenberger is] currently wrapping up a project in Milwaukee which grew out of a three month artist residency there in 2008. There will be a new CD out shortly,
titled "Cherry Picking Apple Blossom Time" and a big performance in
Milwaukee at the historic Pabst Theater on May 13. This is a new series of
monologues with music by Paul Cebar, performed by him, members of his band
and other area musicians. The text is based on [David's] conversations with
elderly Milwaukeeans who have memory loss....There's info about the
show and this new piece here: http://pabsttheater.org/paulcebar
Monday, April 6, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Reviews from Gavin Grant: Floation Device, Ker-Bloom, Oh No, the Robot, Prints Not Dead, Lazy Boy, Musea
FLOTATION DEVICE
No.11, $5, half-letter, 64pp., Keith Helt, 1242 Dean St., Woodstock, IL 60098. floatationdevice@gmail.com
Picked this up at some point (this issue came out in 2005) at Giant Robot in San Francisco. A long way to go for zines, but those were the days when a cross-country trip to get some reading material seemed like a sharp idea. And it was: this is a great zine. Keith gave all his stories to different comics artists to illustrate so, while he looks into his relationship to zining over the years, the many illustrators give it a ton of different looks. It’s almost worth the $5 for the cover which you could frame or just put up on your wall. It’s a great idea and his sense of joy at being part of the zining community is catchy.
KER-BLOOM!
No.74, $2+stamp, quarter-letter, 8pp., artnoose, 5532 Baywood St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Yay! A Manifesto! This issue of the long-running letterpress-printed Ker-bloom! is titled “Pittsburgh Relocation Project” and it’s very persuasive. Artnoose and partner moved there so that they could have their “Dream Shop”—a print shop (see www.craftycards.net for their other print stuff) in the ground floor of their house. A year later, it’s done and now we should all move there. This zine makes it sound like an idea we should all be considering: free bikes and free screenprinting are both available, there aren’t many cops, there are loads of punk families, punk rock brunches (that may be an oxymoron, but it gets the meaning across), and so on. As economies around the world wait for China to start selling dollars and begin the big collapse, artnoose says Pittsburgh is readying itself for the apocalypse. Read the zine and get on your bike.
OH NO! THE ROBOT
No.10, $2, half-letter, 12pp., Chris Morix, 23 Crystal Villa, Warman, SK, SOKOAI, Canada. ohnotherobot@hotmail.com
A set of short stories about a guy, maybe Chris, who hates much about life including dating, marriage, and other forms of partnership hooking up with a friend and wondering how it will go and whether it will last, some of which are illustrated by naïve-styled color illustrations. There are some great lines here: “The end is when you get to relax after the climax, take a deep breath, and begin plotting a way to do it all again.” It’s hilarious, mercifully short, and ends in a way that points to larger, weirder things. Something like Joe Meno meets Kevin Brockmeier.
PRINTS NOT DEAD
Andrew Coltrin, Look for Signage, PO Box 40782, Tucson, AZ 85717, look_for_signage@yahoo.com
I love that when I read a good zine and google it I find a whole new bunch of interesting people. I just looked up Andrew’s other zine, Bony Landmarks, and came across a well-established distro shop (www.parcellpress.com) that looks like the next place on my buy tour of the internets. Um, right, liked the zine, too.
LAZY BOY
No.1, $2 US/$4 world/trade, quarter-legal, 80pp., Mike Baker, PO Box 1174, Tallahassee, FL 32302. gomek@comcast.net
Mike gives the reader fair warning for what to expect in his preface: it’s a trip through how fucked up he is, so don’t read it if you’re easily offended. It starts off gentle with a couple of letters from prisoners and a photocopied “fag story from the fifties.” Then comes, as it were, the exciting stuff: episodes of his sexual experiences that run the gamut. There are also a couple of nihilistic short short stories that didn’t do much for me.
MUSEA
No.163, $?, half-legal, 8pp., Tom Hendricks, Art with Craft, 4000 Hawthorne, #5, Dallas, TX 75219. tom-hendricks@att.net
Reprints an older essay of Tom’s, “Pentalium,” in which he calls for a Wiki-style collaborative world history to be written. (Does Wikipedia count? Not sure.) There’s also a nice short piece of MUSEA history that will mess up future historians. The last essay is on new ways to know the past. The last of these is astrology, so how you take it will depend on whether your mind is made up on that or not. I don’t think the past will be able to be read by looking at where the sun was or who was born on which days and so on, but maybe you do. I did like checking out his music at hunkasaurus.com.
No.11, $5, half-letter, 64pp., Keith Helt, 1242 Dean St., Woodstock, IL 60098. floatationdevice@gmail.com
Picked this up at some point (this issue came out in 2005) at Giant Robot in San Francisco. A long way to go for zines, but those were the days when a cross-country trip to get some reading material seemed like a sharp idea. And it was: this is a great zine. Keith gave all his stories to different comics artists to illustrate so, while he looks into his relationship to zining over the years, the many illustrators give it a ton of different looks. It’s almost worth the $5 for the cover which you could frame or just put up on your wall. It’s a great idea and his sense of joy at being part of the zining community is catchy.
KER-BLOOM!
No.74, $2+stamp, quarter-letter, 8pp., artnoose, 5532 Baywood St., Pittsburgh, PA 15206
Yay! A Manifesto! This issue of the long-running letterpress-printed Ker-bloom! is titled “Pittsburgh Relocation Project” and it’s very persuasive. Artnoose and partner moved there so that they could have their “Dream Shop”—a print shop (see www.craftycards.net for their other print stuff) in the ground floor of their house. A year later, it’s done and now we should all move there. This zine makes it sound like an idea we should all be considering: free bikes and free screenprinting are both available, there aren’t many cops, there are loads of punk families, punk rock brunches (that may be an oxymoron, but it gets the meaning across), and so on. As economies around the world wait for China to start selling dollars and begin the big collapse, artnoose says Pittsburgh is readying itself for the apocalypse. Read the zine and get on your bike.
OH NO! THE ROBOT
No.10, $2, half-letter, 12pp., Chris Morix, 23 Crystal Villa, Warman, SK, SOKOAI, Canada. ohnotherobot@hotmail.com
A set of short stories about a guy, maybe Chris, who hates much about life including dating, marriage, and other forms of partnership hooking up with a friend and wondering how it will go and whether it will last, some of which are illustrated by naïve-styled color illustrations. There are some great lines here: “The end is when you get to relax after the climax, take a deep breath, and begin plotting a way to do it all again.” It’s hilarious, mercifully short, and ends in a way that points to larger, weirder things. Something like Joe Meno meets Kevin Brockmeier.
PRINTS NOT DEAD
Andrew Coltrin, Look for Signage, PO Box 40782, Tucson, AZ 85717, look_for_signage@yahoo.com
I love that when I read a good zine and google it I find a whole new bunch of interesting people. I just looked up Andrew’s other zine, Bony Landmarks, and came across a well-established distro shop (www.parcellpress.com) that looks like the next place on my buy tour of the internets. Um, right, liked the zine, too.
LAZY BOY
No.1, $2 US/$4 world/trade, quarter-legal, 80pp., Mike Baker, PO Box 1174, Tallahassee, FL 32302. gomek@comcast.net
Mike gives the reader fair warning for what to expect in his preface: it’s a trip through how fucked up he is, so don’t read it if you’re easily offended. It starts off gentle with a couple of letters from prisoners and a photocopied “fag story from the fifties.” Then comes, as it were, the exciting stuff: episodes of his sexual experiences that run the gamut. There are also a couple of nihilistic short short stories that didn’t do much for me.
MUSEA
No.163, $?, half-legal, 8pp., Tom Hendricks, Art with Craft, 4000 Hawthorne, #5, Dallas, TX 75219. tom-hendricks@att.net
Reprints an older essay of Tom’s, “Pentalium,” in which he calls for a Wiki-style collaborative world history to be written. (Does Wikipedia count? Not sure.) There’s also a nice short piece of MUSEA history that will mess up future historians. The last essay is on new ways to know the past. The last of these is astrology, so how you take it will depend on whether your mind is made up on that or not. I don’t think the past will be able to be read by looking at where the sun was or who was born on which days and so on, but maybe you do. I did like checking out his music at hunkasaurus.com.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Maynard Reviews some Zines (March 2009)
Opuntia 66.1 November. 2008 ISSN 1183-2703
Dale Spiers
Box 6830
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T2P 2E7
$3 cash for a one-time copy, no US checks or US stamps
Oil, oil and more oil. Dale Spiers discusses the driver of modern industry with alacrity. He assures us that Armageddon isn't really at hand, we are just going through yet another awkward economic convulsion, caused, in part, by oil speculators dumping their once-precious black-gold. Personally, I was hoping for Armageddon, as I don't want to have to save for retirement anymore.
Dale also reviews Reinventing Collapse (Dimitri Orlov, 2008). No one knows economic woes better than Russians, but this book will be an unpleasant wakeup call for us spoiled Westerners, whose privately owned dwellings and industries are completely subject to the value of our currency. In the recent Russian collapse, the currency was worthless and people had to rely on barter. This was possible because their housing and major industries are owned by the State, so at least the communities stayed together as housing ownership was unaffected. City dwellers could also go about living as they could use bikes and public transit to get around.
America's impending collapse will be spectacular. So horrifying, in fact, that I am tempted to dig a pit and fill it with Spam and gold bars. The future collapse would be fascinating if I didn't have to participate.
Think how lives will change with no money, no jobs, no cars and no cable! It's primitive as can be. Anyhoo, upshot is we'll have to rely on each other, learn to mend and make do, and give up our selfish, isolated, environmentally detrimental lifestyles, which is a pity because I enjoy having my own bathroom.
Also included are zine reviews.
When the Spam runs out, think of the good old days when you could read zine reviews on the Internet.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Angry Carrot and Diabolical Pea
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$3 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
These are the chronicles of a murderous pea and carrot who specialize in sophisticated riffs on great moments in history, and ironic illustration of text. Format is a quarter sheet with a quotation and accompanying crude stick-figure drawing to illustrate the concept in the quote.
My only admonition to the authors is the labeling Stairway to Heaven as a great tragedy in History. You young whippersnappers have no idea of the health benefits the DJ population derived from this song. Many years ago, before automated radio, Disc Jockies would play this classic, 6-minute tune, so they could go take a leek. This song is great on so many levels, but the thing that impresses me most is Led Zep was on some pretty heavy drugs and were able to hold and slide a tempo like nobody's business. Mega cool.
If you favor crude, yet erudite drawings, this will bring a grin to even the most jaded, history-major-cum-baristas out there.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Sad Robots
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$3 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
Brief allegory of the coming Age of Robots and how they sort of appreciate what they lost when they destroyed humanity. Deeply disturbing, but in a good way.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Revelation Chapters 1-11
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$5 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
Jesus help me! I am a huge sucker for the Book of Revelations, so forgive the Rave for this zine; it probably isn't as great as I think, but I am extremely biased with this sort of thing, and am unable to remain in the proper “reviewer” stance and have shifted over to hopeless fan.
The authors take the best of the Scripture, add some crude drawings, vivid color, and viola! A masterpiece.
The Four Horsemen illustration – alone - is worth $5.
ETC #1 Everybody that Creates: Regret
PO Box 678421
Orlando, FL 32867-8421
$2
This zine has uneven content, and a lot of poetry, so if poesy makes you puke, skip it.
There are some gems in here. Poetical standouts are Song of Songs by Christopher Almond; Doctor Holdout by Curtis Meyer, and the Untitled Comic by Chuck E. Folgar.
This last offering, Untitled Comic, is the highlight of the zine for me. It's a brief comic which is a painfully funny study of what it's like to reveal all the wrong parts of yourself to others whom you wish to impress, and they subsequently reject you.
Regeneration
32 pages, half size
$2 US, $3 outside US, trades accepted
Ashlee Swanson
8150 W 30 ½ St. #306
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
asregeneration@yahoo.com
For those of us who trembled at the thought that there was no replacement generation of zine-creators, think again. Ashlee Swanson's excellent zine on the confusing, twentysomething experience is a fine representation of the next generation of zinesters.
Ashlee captures that feeling of random, drunken-free-fall life. It's the oddly-in-between-time, when one isn't a teen, and isn't exactly sure who or what one is. I am still waiting for this period of life to come to an end, but I am a very slow learner. Ashlee shows us how she stumbled her way through her first years living on her own, and what she experienced as she learned about herself through her relationships with others.
Hand-lettered, slice-of-life style makes you feel you really know the author at zine's end.
Absent Cause, #2, January 2009
PO Box 1568
NY, NY 10276
redguard@gmail.com
www.absent-cause.org
$4 US; $5 Can/Mex; $5 World (includes shipping)
Trades OK
96 p; size: 5.5” X 8.5”
Essays and poems from numerous authors– mostly essays with a central theme of self acceptance or becoming part of a group.
The essays are top-notch, well-written, and highly engaging.
Topics include an interview with rocker Amanda Palmer; fat acceptance; the Muslim experience – one in NY city and one in Egypt; obsessive disorders; transsexuals; horror and fantasy fiction; poetry; and some amazing graphic and photographic art with very strong, sexual images.
The essay that made me stop and think even more than usual, is Andria Alefi's essay “Arab in the American world (or the other way around).” A first-generation, Arab woman describes her complex identity as an Arab-American; Arab-American mistaken for a Jew, and a daughter of immigrants. This essay is a generous, humorous, and complex take on the American Experience.
The revelation of the fear within the Arab-American communities to be themselves is heart-breaking.
The history of immigration to America is one of hazing. And that is for the folks who came here voluntarily. We have forgotten “Irish need not apply” and “No Italians Allowed” on the door of the local watering hole that was a hallmark of the turn of the last century.
Arab-Americans today are suffering a double-whammy of normal American xenophobia and freaky global politics resulting from stateless warfare techniques, which has been cruelly and incorrectly associated with Islam.
Can the Republic survive this episode and preserve Constitutional Integrity? We have an unpleasant chapter of American history to refer to: how we treated Japanese-Americans during WWII. I pray we have learned our lesson from this less-than-glorious period of our history.
Dale Spiers
Box 6830
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
T2P 2E7
$3 cash for a one-time copy, no US checks or US stamps
Oil, oil and more oil. Dale Spiers discusses the driver of modern industry with alacrity. He assures us that Armageddon isn't really at hand, we are just going through yet another awkward economic convulsion, caused, in part, by oil speculators dumping their once-precious black-gold. Personally, I was hoping for Armageddon, as I don't want to have to save for retirement anymore.
Dale also reviews Reinventing Collapse (Dimitri Orlov, 2008). No one knows economic woes better than Russians, but this book will be an unpleasant wakeup call for us spoiled Westerners, whose privately owned dwellings and industries are completely subject to the value of our currency. In the recent Russian collapse, the currency was worthless and people had to rely on barter. This was possible because their housing and major industries are owned by the State, so at least the communities stayed together as housing ownership was unaffected. City dwellers could also go about living as they could use bikes and public transit to get around.
America's impending collapse will be spectacular. So horrifying, in fact, that I am tempted to dig a pit and fill it with Spam and gold bars. The future collapse would be fascinating if I didn't have to participate.
Think how lives will change with no money, no jobs, no cars and no cable! It's primitive as can be. Anyhoo, upshot is we'll have to rely on each other, learn to mend and make do, and give up our selfish, isolated, environmentally detrimental lifestyles, which is a pity because I enjoy having my own bathroom.
Also included are zine reviews.
When the Spam runs out, think of the good old days when you could read zine reviews on the Internet.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Angry Carrot and Diabolical Pea
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$3 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
These are the chronicles of a murderous pea and carrot who specialize in sophisticated riffs on great moments in history, and ironic illustration of text. Format is a quarter sheet with a quotation and accompanying crude stick-figure drawing to illustrate the concept in the quote.
My only admonition to the authors is the labeling Stairway to Heaven as a great tragedy in History. You young whippersnappers have no idea of the health benefits the DJ population derived from this song. Many years ago, before automated radio, Disc Jockies would play this classic, 6-minute tune, so they could go take a leek. This song is great on so many levels, but the thing that impresses me most is Led Zep was on some pretty heavy drugs and were able to hold and slide a tempo like nobody's business. Mega cool.
If you favor crude, yet erudite drawings, this will bring a grin to even the most jaded, history-major-cum-baristas out there.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Sad Robots
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$3 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
Brief allegory of the coming Age of Robots and how they sort of appreciate what they lost when they destroyed humanity. Deeply disturbing, but in a good way.
Sugar and Spite Presents
Revelation Chapters 1-11
Ali Thompson and Mikkie McGregor
PO Box 95
Runnemeade, NY 08078
$5 Other titles by these authors are reviewed below and prices vary per title.
Jesus help me! I am a huge sucker for the Book of Revelations, so forgive the Rave for this zine; it probably isn't as great as I think, but I am extremely biased with this sort of thing, and am unable to remain in the proper “reviewer” stance and have shifted over to hopeless fan.
The authors take the best of the Scripture, add some crude drawings, vivid color, and viola! A masterpiece.
The Four Horsemen illustration – alone - is worth $5.
ETC #1 Everybody that Creates: Regret
PO Box 678421
Orlando, FL 32867-8421
$2
This zine has uneven content, and a lot of poetry, so if poesy makes you puke, skip it.
There are some gems in here. Poetical standouts are Song of Songs by Christopher Almond; Doctor Holdout by Curtis Meyer, and the Untitled Comic by Chuck E. Folgar.
This last offering, Untitled Comic, is the highlight of the zine for me. It's a brief comic which is a painfully funny study of what it's like to reveal all the wrong parts of yourself to others whom you wish to impress, and they subsequently reject you.
Regeneration
32 pages, half size
$2 US, $3 outside US, trades accepted
Ashlee Swanson
8150 W 30 ½ St. #306
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
asregeneration@yahoo.com
For those of us who trembled at the thought that there was no replacement generation of zine-creators, think again. Ashlee Swanson's excellent zine on the confusing, twentysomething experience is a fine representation of the next generation of zinesters.
Ashlee captures that feeling of random, drunken-free-fall life. It's the oddly-in-between-time, when one isn't a teen, and isn't exactly sure who or what one is. I am still waiting for this period of life to come to an end, but I am a very slow learner. Ashlee shows us how she stumbled her way through her first years living on her own, and what she experienced as she learned about herself through her relationships with others.
Hand-lettered, slice-of-life style makes you feel you really know the author at zine's end.
Absent Cause, #2, January 2009
PO Box 1568
NY, NY 10276
redguard@gmail.com
www.absent-cause.org
$4 US; $5 Can/Mex; $5 World (includes shipping)
Trades OK
96 p; size: 5.5” X 8.5”
Essays and poems from numerous authors– mostly essays with a central theme of self acceptance or becoming part of a group.
The essays are top-notch, well-written, and highly engaging.
Topics include an interview with rocker Amanda Palmer; fat acceptance; the Muslim experience – one in NY city and one in Egypt; obsessive disorders; transsexuals; horror and fantasy fiction; poetry; and some amazing graphic and photographic art with very strong, sexual images.
The essay that made me stop and think even more than usual, is Andria Alefi's essay “Arab in the American world (or the other way around).” A first-generation, Arab woman describes her complex identity as an Arab-American; Arab-American mistaken for a Jew, and a daughter of immigrants. This essay is a generous, humorous, and complex take on the American Experience.
The revelation of the fear within the Arab-American communities to be themselves is heart-breaking.
The history of immigration to America is one of hazing. And that is for the folks who came here voluntarily. We have forgotten “Irish need not apply” and “No Italians Allowed” on the door of the local watering hole that was a hallmark of the turn of the last century.
Arab-Americans today are suffering a double-whammy of normal American xenophobia and freaky global politics resulting from stateless warfare techniques, which has been cruelly and incorrectly associated with Islam.
Can the Republic survive this episode and preserve Constitutional Integrity? We have an unpleasant chapter of American history to refer to: how we treated Japanese-Americans during WWII. I pray we have learned our lesson from this less-than-glorious period of our history.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
IN My Mailbox 3-11-09
Hola,
Ah, spring is coming, the time of year that a young man's thoughts turn to baseball and illegally distilled homemade liquors. And also too, time for another trip to the PO Box!
This time around, a light load. Two bucks, a couple of letters, and just two publications:
- Intersections ($3, Eight Stone Press, PO Box 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.eightstonepress.com). Man Bill Tandy and 8SP is a busy bunch, eh? And more power to 'em. I have no idea what this zine's about, frankly, as I haven't read it yet and it lacks the sort of easy-to-digest cover patter that a smooth mind like mine likes for easy distillation. But, they use a quote from me in one of their advertisements, so they rock.
- Zine World #27 ($4 US, $5 CAN, PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN 37133; www.undergroundpress.org) Yea! Another issue of ZW, which we love. Contains a good review of TIS, as well, which is always nice, and a bad review of one of my novels, which is the risk you take. It's a *funny* bad review, which takes some of the sting out of it.
And that was it. Never a bad day when there's *something* in the box, so I ain't complaining.
Ciao.
J
--
Blog - http://www.jeffreysomers.com/blather/
The Inner Swine - http://www.innerswine.com
Ah, spring is coming, the time of year that a young man's thoughts turn to baseball and illegally distilled homemade liquors. And also too, time for another trip to the PO Box!
This time around, a light load. Two bucks, a couple of letters, and just two publications:
- Intersections ($3, Eight Stone Press, PO Box 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.eightstonepress.com). Man Bill Tandy and 8SP is a busy bunch, eh? And more power to 'em. I have no idea what this zine's about, frankly, as I haven't read it yet and it lacks the sort of easy-to-digest cover patter that a smooth mind like mine likes for easy distillation. But, they use a quote from me in one of their advertisements, so they rock.
- Zine World #27 ($4 US, $5 CAN, PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN 37133; www.undergroundpress.org) Yea! Another issue of ZW, which we love. Contains a good review of TIS, as well, which is always nice, and a bad review of one of my novels, which is the risk you take. It's a *funny* bad review, which takes some of the sting out of it.
And that was it. Never a bad day when there's *something* in the box, so I ain't complaining.
Ciao.
J
--
Blog - http://www.jeffreysomers.com/blather/
The Inner Swine - http://www.innerswine.com
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Go listen...
A podcast about zine hosted by Mark Parker & Alex Wrekk. It's called the NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPIC ZINE podcast and it has a wicked catchy theme song by Androo Robinson and I just found it to be an enjoyable listen.
http://nobodycareszine.libsyn.com/
http://nobodycareszine.libsyn.com/
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Reviews from Fred Argoff: Elephant Mess, FlavorVegan, Map of Fog, Musea, Opuntia, For the Clerisy
As we advance deeper and deeper into the 21st century, it comes as more and more of a surprise to find that zines live. Real zines, produced on paper, that you can hold in your hands. I find this to be very comforting. My own brother has been on my back for years to stop doing a hard copy zine and switch over to the e-version. He says I'm wasting my time. "Hah!" I reply to him. And also, "Fuhgeddaboudit!" So saying, it's time to see what was in the bulky envelope with the Maryland postmark...
ELEPHANT MESS. Now, really--how could you go wrong with a title like this? It's a mini-zine full of words. All kinds of words. In fact, #20 is subtitled "Extra Words." And they come under such flavorful headings as How to Repair Everything (I can't repair anything, so I'm pretty impressed by this), Green Tea and Suicide Notes, Ninja Movies and Curse Words at the County Fair. More words like this, I say! It's a Dan Murphy production, and he says he'll accept trades. Otherwise, $2 (US, Canada & Mexico; $3 rest of the world) gets you the next copy from Dan at P.O. Box 3154, Moscow ID 83843.
FLAVORVEGAN is a blog. Their operating philosophy is that vegan food, like life, should be full of flavor. OK, I can accept that; flavor is a good thing. And for those of us still living our lives away from the computer screen, they put out this little notice on paper to tempt us into making a visit. Once there, we find not only recipes, but photography and tutorials. The little teaser sent to me for review had a tasty-looking photo on the front that turned out to be the Pizza Sandwich. And no, I'm not listing the recipe here. You're going to have to check this one out for yourselves. But I'll tell you this much: that photo made it difficult for me to sit here and continue writing. All I could think about was pizza. http://flavorvegan.blogspot.com
At first, I thought that MAP OF FOG was a litzine. But upon further investigation, I realized that it's actually an urban oriented zine focusing on San Francisco...hey, wait a minute! It's practically a West Coast cousin of my own little contribution to zinedom (that would be BROOKLYN!) So then I couldn't wait to dive right in. And the first writing encountered in this, the premiere issue, concerns a suicide at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. But for your friendly local urban reviewer, the highlight of the zine was a piece entitled "These Stagnant Streets," about the Sunset District in SF, which the editor points out is not usually on the tourist's itinerary but probably ought to be. And there are photos to back up his textual assertions. Two thumbs up, and a gold star besides. I eagerly await further issues. $2, trades accepted, from Marcos Soriano, P.O. Box 27252, San Francisco CA 94127.
Well, I've reviewed MUSEA before, but Tom keeps putting out new issues and besides, I happen to like it. It's the zine devoted to the arts. No politics, no environment, no religion, no finance. Just the arts. Issue #166 (I told you Tom keeps putting out new issues, didn't I?) is the annual holiday story issue, a love story and mystery rolled into one. Here's the opening sentence: "Reich and Van Smith re-opened the taped packing tube with a ceremonious flare." Now try to tell me you aren't curious to see what develops from that point on. And guess what? Each issue is completely different, so you never have any idea what's on tap. No price listed, but for heaven's sake, make a contribution to the arts, willya? Tom Hendricks, 4000 Hawthorne (#5), Dallas TX 75219.
OPUNTIA is the coded zine. Each issue has a number on the front containing a decimal, so you know what to expect. .1 issues are reviewzines, .2 indexes, .3 apazines and .5 perzines. Here's issue 66.3, devoted to amateur press association zines. In particular, the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. Now you know the deal; ask for the topics that interest you. $3 cash for a one-time sample from Dale Speirs, P.O. Box 6830, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7
And then there's FOR THE CLERISY. People are always confused by that title, and some avoid the zine because of it. But if you look it up, you'll find that the clerisy happen to be (the envelope, please)...people who read. Go figure! The zine's purpose of statement is twofold: one, to assure readers that other readers do, in fact, exist--a comforting assurance in the Age of the Internet--and two, to provide suggestions for expanding one's horizons through reviews of generally neglected books. Just as a small sampling, here in Vol. 15, No. 75 we find David Sedaris' "Barrel Fever," wherein ordinary people wind up in predicaments; Hannah Ropes' "Civil War Nurse," a collection of her correspondence; and "West with the Night," by Beryl Markham, the pioneering avatrix who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic from London to North America. And there are letters of comment, too--not entirely surprising from people who read! No price listed, from Brant Kresovich, P.O. Box 404, Getzville NY 14068-0404.
And now I must curtail my reviewing activities in order to start working on the next issue of my own zine. Until next time, adieu, adios and foor gezuntaheit.
ELEPHANT MESS. Now, really--how could you go wrong with a title like this? It's a mini-zine full of words. All kinds of words. In fact, #20 is subtitled "Extra Words." And they come under such flavorful headings as How to Repair Everything (I can't repair anything, so I'm pretty impressed by this), Green Tea and Suicide Notes, Ninja Movies and Curse Words at the County Fair. More words like this, I say! It's a Dan Murphy production, and he says he'll accept trades. Otherwise, $2 (US, Canada & Mexico; $3 rest of the world) gets you the next copy from Dan at P.O. Box 3154, Moscow ID 83843.
FLAVORVEGAN is a blog. Their operating philosophy is that vegan food, like life, should be full of flavor. OK, I can accept that; flavor is a good thing. And for those of us still living our lives away from the computer screen, they put out this little notice on paper to tempt us into making a visit. Once there, we find not only recipes, but photography and tutorials. The little teaser sent to me for review had a tasty-looking photo on the front that turned out to be the Pizza Sandwich. And no, I'm not listing the recipe here. You're going to have to check this one out for yourselves. But I'll tell you this much: that photo made it difficult for me to sit here and continue writing. All I could think about was pizza. http://flavorvegan.blogspot.com
At first, I thought that MAP OF FOG was a litzine. But upon further investigation, I realized that it's actually an urban oriented zine focusing on San Francisco...hey, wait a minute! It's practically a West Coast cousin of my own little contribution to zinedom (that would be BROOKLYN!) So then I couldn't wait to dive right in. And the first writing encountered in this, the premiere issue, concerns a suicide at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero. But for your friendly local urban reviewer, the highlight of the zine was a piece entitled "These Stagnant Streets," about the Sunset District in SF, which the editor points out is not usually on the tourist's itinerary but probably ought to be. And there are photos to back up his textual assertions. Two thumbs up, and a gold star besides. I eagerly await further issues. $2, trades accepted, from Marcos Soriano, P.O. Box 27252, San Francisco CA 94127.
Well, I've reviewed MUSEA before, but Tom keeps putting out new issues and besides, I happen to like it. It's the zine devoted to the arts. No politics, no environment, no religion, no finance. Just the arts. Issue #166 (I told you Tom keeps putting out new issues, didn't I?) is the annual holiday story issue, a love story and mystery rolled into one. Here's the opening sentence: "Reich and Van Smith re-opened the taped packing tube with a ceremonious flare." Now try to tell me you aren't curious to see what develops from that point on. And guess what? Each issue is completely different, so you never have any idea what's on tap. No price listed, but for heaven's sake, make a contribution to the arts, willya? Tom Hendricks, 4000 Hawthorne (#5), Dallas TX 75219.
OPUNTIA is the coded zine. Each issue has a number on the front containing a decimal, so you know what to expect. .1 issues are reviewzines, .2 indexes, .3 apazines and .5 perzines. Here's issue 66.3, devoted to amateur press association zines. In particular, the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. Now you know the deal; ask for the topics that interest you. $3 cash for a one-time sample from Dale Speirs, P.O. Box 6830, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7
And then there's FOR THE CLERISY. People are always confused by that title, and some avoid the zine because of it. But if you look it up, you'll find that the clerisy happen to be (the envelope, please)...people who read. Go figure! The zine's purpose of statement is twofold: one, to assure readers that other readers do, in fact, exist--a comforting assurance in the Age of the Internet--and two, to provide suggestions for expanding one's horizons through reviews of generally neglected books. Just as a small sampling, here in Vol. 15, No. 75 we find David Sedaris' "Barrel Fever," wherein ordinary people wind up in predicaments; Hannah Ropes' "Civil War Nurse," a collection of her correspondence; and "West with the Night," by Beryl Markham, the pioneering avatrix who was the first to fly solo across the Atlantic from London to North America. And there are letters of comment, too--not entirely surprising from people who read! No price listed, from Brant Kresovich, P.O. Box 404, Getzville NY 14068-0404.
And now I must curtail my reviewing activities in order to start working on the next issue of my own zine. Until next time, adieu, adios and foor gezuntaheit.
Friday, February 27, 2009
"Underground, Overground: the State of Zines Today" - article on Dandizette
This article http://dandizette.net/features/zines-zines talks about the state of zines.
The National Library of Scotland looking for UK zines
The National Library of Scotland looking to document and collect zines from the UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/7908705.stm
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Ungrateful Black-White Girl (review by Anne)
"This is, above all, a zine about race, but since I experience the world not only as a mixed-race person, but as a mixed-race queer woman with an inconsistent gender presentation, you will find experiences pertaining to all those identities in this zine." I've reviewed a lot of Nia's work before and I always come away from it thinking, Yeah, this is work people need to read. Because it is. That said, I think of all of Nia's work, Ungrateful Black-White Girl is the most articulate I've seen her be in writing about her own experiences. Her work is always powerful, but there's something about this zine that is both direct like her other work and also proactive; the anger is still there, but the setting feels more external--in this zine she's starting at a new school and is in a few setting different from her other zines. Maybe that's it. Maybe this zine feels more tied to a sense of place, whereas her other work was working through specific events or certain issues. UB-WG takes the form of dated individual entries that are titled things like "How to be a better white ally"and "This is what self-care looks like." It'll make you think; it's honest and forthright, and it's evocative of some of the things that I like best about zines. Get it. It's absolutely worth your time.
$2/Digest/24 pgs
Nia Diaspora
available here:
http://strangerdangerdistro.wordpress.com/catalog/
$2/Digest/24 pgs
Nia Diaspora
available here:
http://strangerdangerdistro.wordpress.com/catalog/
Saturday, February 21, 2009
In My Mailbox 2-21-09
Today, a beautiful day. Sunny, filled with promise. And on all such days filled with promise I wddle on down to the PO Box to see if the universe is going to fulfill that promise:
- I got two bizarre letters. One is just a listing of medals won at the 1936 Olympics. Thta's it. No note, no insert, just that and an address. The other is a handwritten plea to protest Sirius/XM radio's elimination of the Punk channel. The Punk Channel on Satellite radio? Punks pay $$$ every month to listen to the radio? This is strange to me. But then my sense of all things punk is still pretty 1985, I suspect.
- Maximumrocknroll (PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com): Another day, another MMR with a review of TIS. Not a bad review, thoguh the reviewer does think the issue was a bit more filled with padding and less inspired than usual.
- Underworld Crawl #6 ($2, R. Lee, POB 1421, Oshkosh, WI 54903). Mistah Lee writes in the beginning that he "fell off the wagon" for a while and stopped making or reading zines, then picked one up at random and got all charged up about it again, and thus a new UC. Thank goodness. Digest-sized and filled with words, my favorite.
- A magazine and some trinkets from Antigua, plus a poem, courtesy of Asha Anderson, who I haven't heard from in quite a while. You can check her at http://www.ashabot.com/.
- .ZAP! Spring 09, of which I am part. WE ROCK.
- A whole bunch of zines from Dan Swank, who, in search of humorous zines, heard about me from Eric Lyden, apparently. I will now creully disappoint Dan with issues of my own zine. He sent me Cranky Buddha #6 and #7 ($2, no address listed, www.crankybuddha.com), Tales from the Bus, and Manuscripts Don't Burn #6. All are digest-sized with cardstock covers and look neat. Go complain that he doesn't have contact info on his actual zines, okay?
And that was it. No go forth and make more zines for me. GO!
- I got two bizarre letters. One is just a listing of medals won at the 1936 Olympics. Thta's it. No note, no insert, just that and an address. The other is a handwritten plea to protest Sirius/XM radio's elimination of the Punk channel. The Punk Channel on Satellite radio? Punks pay $$$ every month to listen to the radio? This is strange to me. But then my sense of all things punk is still pretty 1985, I suspect.
- Maximumrocknroll (PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com): Another day, another MMR with a review of TIS. Not a bad review, thoguh the reviewer does think the issue was a bit more filled with padding and less inspired than usual.
- Underworld Crawl #6 ($2, R. Lee, POB 1421, Oshkosh, WI 54903). Mistah Lee writes in the beginning that he "fell off the wagon" for a while and stopped making or reading zines, then picked one up at random and got all charged up about it again, and thus a new UC. Thank goodness. Digest-sized and filled with words, my favorite.
- A magazine and some trinkets from Antigua, plus a poem, courtesy of Asha Anderson, who I haven't heard from in quite a while. You can check her at http://www.ashabot.com/.
- .ZAP! Spring 09, of which I am part. WE ROCK.
- A whole bunch of zines from Dan Swank, who, in search of humorous zines, heard about me from Eric Lyden, apparently. I will now creully disappoint Dan with issues of my own zine. He sent me Cranky Buddha #6 and #7 ($2, no address listed, www.crankybuddha.com), Tales from the Bus, and Manuscripts Don't Burn #6. All are digest-sized with cardstock covers and look neat. Go complain that he doesn't have contact info on his actual zines, okay?
And that was it. No go forth and make more zines for me. GO!
Review from Davida: AS THE WORLD BURNS: 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY IN DENIAL
AS THE WORLD BURNS: 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY IN DENIAL
By Derrick Jensen (Author) and Stephanie McMillan (Illustrator)
A friend sent me AS THE WORLD BURNS: 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY IN DENIAL without preamble. Reading it reminded me of the experience (not the content) of going to see “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.” I went to see the movie knowing nothing about it and worse yet somehow assuming that it would along the lines of “A Room with a View.” It was like getting visually smacked with viscera. Similarly, I started ATWB with innocence. That shatters after the first few pages and one would have to be an eco-saint not to see one’s own hypocrisy reflected the characters. Jensen and McMillan use fact and humor to explain the world is fucked and we are all responsible. It skewers the myth that changing lightbulbs and recycling are enough. Greedy politicians, ineffectual do-gooders, and aliens are slammed and bunnies are terrorists. A call to arms and arming bears. Highly recommended.
$14.95
224 pages , paperback
Seven Stories Press
ISBN-13: 978-1583227770
By Derrick Jensen (Author) and Stephanie McMillan (Illustrator)
A friend sent me AS THE WORLD BURNS: 50 SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO STAY IN DENIAL without preamble. Reading it reminded me of the experience (not the content) of going to see “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover.” I went to see the movie knowing nothing about it and worse yet somehow assuming that it would along the lines of “A Room with a View.” It was like getting visually smacked with viscera. Similarly, I started ATWB with innocence. That shatters after the first few pages and one would have to be an eco-saint not to see one’s own hypocrisy reflected the characters. Jensen and McMillan use fact and humor to explain the world is fucked and we are all responsible. It skewers the myth that changing lightbulbs and recycling are enough. Greedy politicians, ineffectual do-gooders, and aliens are slammed and bunnies are terrorists. A call to arms and arming bears. Highly recommended.
$14.95
224 pages , paperback
Seven Stories Press
ISBN-13: 978-1583227770
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Reviews from Delaine Derry Green: Hero Land, Falling Can be Deadly, Scrappy J, Invincible Summer,
Delaine here - making my first-ever appearance as a reviewer for XD. Thank you, Davida, for inviting me to play! I’ll try to briefly introduce myself now… I became enamored with zines back in 1993. That’s when I started contributing to other people’s zines. It didn’t take long before I KNEW I had to do my own zine! So I put out ‘My Small Diary’, a collection of my autobio comics, quickly followed by ‘Not My Small Diary’ (other people’s autobio comics – get it?) and I continue to this day. My next NMSD is going to have a ‘Brushes with Celebrity’ theme (fun!). I have been saving every zine I’ve received over the years and the piles are large, let me tell you. I will now try to share my ziney opinions with you. Enjoy!
delangel3@hotmail.com; www.mysmallwebpage.com; yes, I’m on Facebook
HERO LAND
by Esther Pearl Watson
32 pages, $5
5 1/2 x 6 1/2
Funchicken.com
The focus of this mini rests squarely on the biggest names in superhero land, but it’s done with a twist. Superman, Wonderwoman, Captain America and others find themselves in hilarious situations in single or 2-3 page strips. For example, a spider bites Batman causing his middle finger to become stuck in an unfortunate position. He wonders aloud… “Oh! I hope I don’t offend anyone.” Superman and Wonderwoman have the type of arguments typical of normal couples. Captain America mourns his youth while pulling at his worn-out costume’s crotch. Each super-snippet is illustrated in Esther’s signature funky style that you’ve come to love with her Unlovable comics. The cover is a fabulous red and blue screenprinting job that’ll make you want to show it off on the coffee table. I don’t love superheroes but I love this mini comic!
FALLING CAN BE DEADLY
Ten Foot Rule, Shawn Granton
$2
TFR Industries, PO Box 14185, Portland, OR 97293-0185
Shawn presents his life in a mini comic with polished artwork, detailed stories, moments others might forget and even a fold-out center section focusing on his introspective new year’s resolutions for ‘08. Did he follow his own advice now that it’s a year later? I hope to find out with more comics detailing grand bicycle adventures, self evaluation, brushes with other comic artists and glorious nature! I truly admire Shawn’s body of work.
SCRAPPY J – A STORY ABOUT FIGHTING
Cassie J. Sneider
PO Box 4156, Austin, TX 78765
Cassie recently made a long drive from Austin to Birmingham for our fair city’s first real zine show. Hearing her read from her zines was truly magic. This girl is hilarious and presents her life in the most interesting way possible. Her zines have pages of hand-written stories, funny scribbled drawings and best of all – moxie! This issue takes a look at Cassie’s view of fighting - from a high-schooler wary of her ‘permanent record’ to a present day bar brawl - all told in a chatty/witty style. Cassie also read from another issue of her zine dealing with an odd job she picked up writing first-hand (ha!) reviews of sex toys.
INVINCIBLE SUMMER
Volume II: Issues 9-14, $12
Nicole J. Georges; www.microcosmpublishing.com
Microcosm Publishing, 222 S. Rogers St., Bloomington, IN 47404
Nicole does it again… diary comics filled with the love of animals, band antics, dating, everyday occurrences, minor traumas and some of my favorite drawings ever. It’s not all straight diary comics… Nicole throws in “Advice for Fat Girls who Thrift Shop’, an ‘Ask Nicole’ sassy advice column, a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake, a description of ‘The Points Game’ and more fun than you can shake a stick at. By the end of this pretty pink-covered book you will be bowing down to the gal with the finest beehive hairdo around.
delangel3@hotmail.com; www.mysmallwebpage.com; yes, I’m on Facebook
HERO LAND
by Esther Pearl Watson
32 pages, $5
5 1/2 x 6 1/2
Funchicken.com
The focus of this mini rests squarely on the biggest names in superhero land, but it’s done with a twist. Superman, Wonderwoman, Captain America and others find themselves in hilarious situations in single or 2-3 page strips. For example, a spider bites Batman causing his middle finger to become stuck in an unfortunate position. He wonders aloud… “Oh! I hope I don’t offend anyone.” Superman and Wonderwoman have the type of arguments typical of normal couples. Captain America mourns his youth while pulling at his worn-out costume’s crotch. Each super-snippet is illustrated in Esther’s signature funky style that you’ve come to love with her Unlovable comics. The cover is a fabulous red and blue screenprinting job that’ll make you want to show it off on the coffee table. I don’t love superheroes but I love this mini comic!
FALLING CAN BE DEADLY
Ten Foot Rule, Shawn Granton
$2
TFR Industries, PO Box 14185, Portland, OR 97293-0185
Shawn presents his life in a mini comic with polished artwork, detailed stories, moments others might forget and even a fold-out center section focusing on his introspective new year’s resolutions for ‘08. Did he follow his own advice now that it’s a year later? I hope to find out with more comics detailing grand bicycle adventures, self evaluation, brushes with other comic artists and glorious nature! I truly admire Shawn’s body of work.
SCRAPPY J – A STORY ABOUT FIGHTING
Cassie J. Sneider
PO Box 4156, Austin, TX 78765
Cassie recently made a long drive from Austin to Birmingham for our fair city’s first real zine show. Hearing her read from her zines was truly magic. This girl is hilarious and presents her life in the most interesting way possible. Her zines have pages of hand-written stories, funny scribbled drawings and best of all – moxie! This issue takes a look at Cassie’s view of fighting - from a high-schooler wary of her ‘permanent record’ to a present day bar brawl - all told in a chatty/witty style. Cassie also read from another issue of her zine dealing with an odd job she picked up writing first-hand (ha!) reviews of sex toys.
INVINCIBLE SUMMER
Volume II: Issues 9-14, $12
Nicole J. Georges; www.microcosmpublishing.com
Microcosm Publishing, 222 S. Rogers St., Bloomington, IN 47404
Nicole does it again… diary comics filled with the love of animals, band antics, dating, everyday occurrences, minor traumas and some of my favorite drawings ever. It’s not all straight diary comics… Nicole throws in “Advice for Fat Girls who Thrift Shop’, an ‘Ask Nicole’ sassy advice column, a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake, a description of ‘The Points Game’ and more fun than you can shake a stick at. By the end of this pretty pink-covered book you will be bowing down to the gal with the finest beehive hairdo around.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Maynard goes Zombie with Rigor Mortis
Rigor Mortis Vol 1, Issue 1
$3 cash/check or 1 M.R.E.
Davida Gypsy Breier
P.O. Box 11064
Baltimore, MD 21212
zombie@leekinginc.com
Mmmmm, brains.... This zine fills me with nostalgia for the Pre-Internet days, before cable, when Saturday afternoons were filled with awful Sci-Fi and horror – including zombie – flicks on Channel 20.
And we need zombies like never before to help us cope with modern living: crashing markets, rising unemployment, interest rates at freakin' ZERO percent. These are scary times.
And zombies are great foes. They are purely dead, only want to kill us, and cannot be reasoned with, only stopped with a bullet to the brain. There is no room for compassion or ethical worries with killing them. They are as dead as dead can be; not like a little boy with a bomb strapped to his malnourished body.
Although they tend to win through overwhelming numbers....
But wait, there's more! Not only do you get to ponder zombies with this zine, you'll get high-quality editorializing and excellent reviews of classic and esoteric zombie flicks to add to your queue of viewing pleasure.
The love the writers have for the topic drips off the page, like rotting flesh and congealed blood, in great gobs of well wrought-and-thought writing, which is in darn short supply on that thar “Internet.”
A joy to read.
$3 cash/check or 1 M.R.E.
Davida Gypsy Breier
P.O. Box 11064
Baltimore, MD 21212
zombie@leekinginc.com
Mmmmm, brains.... This zine fills me with nostalgia for the Pre-Internet days, before cable, when Saturday afternoons were filled with awful Sci-Fi and horror – including zombie – flicks on Channel 20.
And we need zombies like never before to help us cope with modern living: crashing markets, rising unemployment, interest rates at freakin' ZERO percent. These are scary times.
And zombies are great foes. They are purely dead, only want to kill us, and cannot be reasoned with, only stopped with a bullet to the brain. There is no room for compassion or ethical worries with killing them. They are as dead as dead can be; not like a little boy with a bomb strapped to his malnourished body.
Although they tend to win through overwhelming numbers....
But wait, there's more! Not only do you get to ponder zombies with this zine, you'll get high-quality editorializing and excellent reviews of classic and esoteric zombie flicks to add to your queue of viewing pleasure.
The love the writers have for the topic drips off the page, like rotting flesh and congealed blood, in great gobs of well wrought-and-thought writing, which is in darn short supply on that thar “Internet.”
A joy to read.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
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
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
Friday, January 23, 2009
In My Mailbox 1-23-09
Hola,
Hoboken is melting; it's 44 degrees out there, so all the ice and snow built up over the last few weeks of snow and cold are melting and flooding. Which means the whole damn city will be a death rink of ice later on tonight. I'll have to break out the mountain-climbing gear just to get around town.
Amidst the various and sundry things found in my PO Box this week, I got the following two interesting pubs:
- The Ken Chronicles #10 ($2/trade, Ken Bausert, 2140 Erma Drive, East Meadow, NY 11554-1120; passscribe@aol.com). Another issue of the pleasant little perzine Ken is putting out post-Passions. Always a nice find in the box.
- Rigor Mortis #1 ($3, Davida Gypsy Breier, PO Box 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.leekinginc.com). THIS IS A ZINE ABOUT ZOMBIES it screams on the back cover, and about damn time. That's just a fucking great idea for a zine, you ask me. Plus, it's got an interview with Tom Savini – what's not to love?
- Maximumrocknroll (PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com) where we seem to be reviewed in just about every issue. Long live MMR.
I got other things, including the world's greatest letter from a prisoner (to be reprinted in TIS, natch). God, I love that PO Box.
L
J
Hoboken is melting; it's 44 degrees out there, so all the ice and snow built up over the last few weeks of snow and cold are melting and flooding. Which means the whole damn city will be a death rink of ice later on tonight. I'll have to break out the mountain-climbing gear just to get around town.
Amidst the various and sundry things found in my PO Box this week, I got the following two interesting pubs:
- The Ken Chronicles #10 ($2/trade, Ken Bausert, 2140 Erma Drive, East Meadow, NY 11554-1120; passscribe@aol.com). Another issue of the pleasant little perzine Ken is putting out post-Passions. Always a nice find in the box.
- Rigor Mortis #1 ($3, Davida Gypsy Breier, PO Box 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.leekinginc.com). THIS IS A ZINE ABOUT ZOMBIES it screams on the back cover, and about damn time. That's just a fucking great idea for a zine, you ask me. Plus, it's got an interview with Tom Savini – what's not to love?
- Maximumrocknroll (PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com) where we seem to be reviewed in just about every issue. Long live MMR.
I got other things, including the world's greatest letter from a prisoner (to be reprinted in TIS, natch). God, I love that PO Box.
L
J
Saturday, January 10, 2009
In My Mailbox 1-9-09
Well, I'm drunk as a skunk. Went to dinner with my brother at a place well-known for its beer taps, then back home for a few snorts of whiskey before shuffling off. So I thought, what better time to post about things in my PO Box?
-- MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #308 ($4, PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com) As heath said in another post: Thank god for MMR. This issue contains a review of TIS that is best described as "mystified". I'm not very much of a punk, but I love MMR and hope it continues.
-- Tenebrous Thaumaturgy (trade, Andrew Conde, GCDC, 2120 East B Street, Torrington WY 82240). An interesting full-size photocopied zine. I first encountered the term "Thaumaturgy" years ago in the fantasy novel "Master of the Five Magics" by Lyndon Hardy. I still have a real soft spot for that book (and its sequels), so the title to this really grabbed me. Andrew's a prisoner, so if you've got extra copies of something lying around, send 'em to him, why not?
L
J
-- MAXIMUMROCKNROLL #308 ($4, PO Box 460760, San Francisco, CA 94146-0760; www.maximumrocknroll.com) As heath said in another post: Thank god for MMR. This issue contains a review of TIS that is best described as "mystified". I'm not very much of a punk, but I love MMR and hope it continues.
-- Tenebrous Thaumaturgy (trade, Andrew Conde, GCDC, 2120 East B Street, Torrington WY 82240). An interesting full-size photocopied zine. I first encountered the term "Thaumaturgy" years ago in the fantasy novel "Master of the Five Magics" by Lyndon Hardy. I still have a real soft spot for that book (and its sequels), so the title to this really grabbed me. Andrew's a prisoner, so if you've got extra copies of something lying around, send 'em to him, why not?
L
J
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Self-Serving Post
The Leeking Inc website has been revamped for the first time in 3-4 years. The reasons are thus:
1) Xerography Debt will remain in print and is partnering with Microcosm Publishing for distribution! #25 will be out in the spring.
2) I have started a new zine devoted to zombies, Rigor Mortis.
3) I had a bunch of debris on the site that simply needed to be cleaned up.
1) Xerography Debt will remain in print and is partnering with Microcosm Publishing for distribution! #25 will be out in the spring.
2) I have started a new zine devoted to zombies, Rigor Mortis.
3) I had a bunch of debris on the site that simply needed to be cleaned up.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Maynard Reviews some Zines (December 2008)
Opuntia 65.5, August, 2008 – Letters to the Editor
Sixteen pages, halfsheet.
Dale Spiers
Box 6830
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7
$3 Cash, trade for letter, zine, letter of comment
No stamps or checks.
Dear Reader, at last, I can provide some insights into the enigma that is Dale Spiers. This dude is an ecclectic, amazing intellect, but I often wondered what he did for a living. How could his enormous reading habit be supported in both his professional and personal lives in modern times?
Apparently, he is a hybrid of Kerouac and MacGyver who works for the Calgary Parks Department as a Trouble Calls Supervisor. How cool is that? A man who is literate in economics, history and popular mechanics, who drives an enormous truck, helping those in distress! A modern Superhero! Okay, enough editorializing and onto an actual review....
Topics in this edition of Opuntia, Letters to the Editor, issue are split between the price and future of oil and Dale's highly entertaining job.
The oil discussion is lively, although out of date; oil has dropped through the floor. Gloat no more, Ye Northern Sheiks.
Dale describes his job in scenarios. At the conclusion of each troubleshooting scene, he punctuates with a great catch phrase: no further action required. I think I'll end as many emails, in my professional life, this way as possible.
It's Fuchi, No?
Author of this hilarious thing, please contact Leeking Inc with price and contact info and we'll gladly amend this review.
This is everything I wish for in a zine – a totally bizarre experience that is somewhat crude and very funny. In my envelope of delights containing It's Fuchi, No? there is a 2008 calendar, which features a creature-a-month, pleasantly mooning the reader. The drawings are so hilarious in their expressivness and artful crappiness. In fact, crap makes an appearance in August!
Also included were Kappa cards (sized and styled sort of like Tarot Cards): amusing factoids and illustrations, describing a mythical, child-eating, sometimes charming, but mostly murderous creature. Here is a sample:
“Kappas are mischievous. Sometimes they like to engage in harmless pranks like loudly breaking wind (There's a Japanese phrase, Kappa no he, which means 'just a kappa fart'. It means much ado about nothing.) or looking up ladies' kimonos. But don't be fooled into thinking that Kappa's just one of the guys. He will kill you given the chance. He prefers to eat children, but he will eat an adult.”
On the verso of the card is a great and crude drawing of a farting, turtle-like creature with a wild, monk-like hairdo.
The third goody in the envelope of delights is a small zine collection of cartoons aimed at being less funny than Ziggy. The author admits it was an ambitious, but self-proclaimed failure. I agree, for as un-funny as some of the cartoons aim to be, they are still damn funny. Much funnier than Ziggy. The author sums it up best, “...I think I failed. I think my comics are actually funnier. That's not to say they're funny: they're not. They're just no Ziggy.”
The Divine and Breaking Wind has touched the author of It's Fuchi, No? and I rejoice.
The final item is a collection of chinese cookie fortunes, stapled together. The fortunes caused me to guffaw aloud. Here are a few:
“You will be engulfed in thighs.”
“Don't shave, it'll make your head look small.”
“Must you constantly deal in chicanery?”
“Your friends value your loyalty and your manipulability.”
The Juniper #10.5 – Summer of Slow
Dan Murphy
P.O. Box 3154
Moscow, ID 83843
juniperjournal@hotmail.com
www.juniperbug.blogspot.com
Send a stamp, first class mail.
Likes letters to the editor, needs help with distribution.
A delicious Black and White minizine: photos of Dan Murphy's gorgeous garden, even in B&W, you can smell the Earth, and taste the sweet, soft summer air as it caresses the vegetation.
It's cold out where I am, and there is a dusting of snow, now getting to be more than just dust. I am feeling sorry for myself so even this scrap of summer provides succor to a suffering soul.
Carrots and Condoms, Winter 2008
Coco Negro
P.O. Box 163327
Sacramento, CA 95816
quotethecat@riseup.net
$3 well-concealed cash
On a personal note, this zine struck a chord of memory with me: that feeling I had just after college, where the working world was so repugnant, so horrible, it drove me mad with despair.
I didn't discover the desire to farm or to somehow create a Portland, OR where I was; I went down in flames of defeat.
So, to you, Coco, you go girl! Keep the passion alive and change the world because NOW is the time. Korporate Amerika is on the run; we are going to have to re-invent the American dream; and you, my dear, young soul, are just where you need to be.
This zine, to me, examines our connection to Nature, and what we can do to heal the dysfunctional relationship that agribusiness and modern life have caused us. As a species, we suffer from a gross separation from the Earth.
Coco describes the Permaculture movement and relates her excellent time spent with this new wave of hippies and Kerouac-inspired hobos.
What Permaculture aims to do is to create a lifestyle that has as close to zero impact on the environment. Recycling on steroids. Think composting, sod huts, heirloom seeds, companion planting, any sort of technique to allow us the bounty of Nature without causing her pain.
The zine itself is a great resource for learning more about Permaculture and organic farms that employ work-traders (highly-educated-itinerant farmers). Two organizations, of the many listed, are Mountain Homestead Community in Oregon and Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri.
The zine has an exhaustive listing of organizations and is chock full of ideas for those who would like to participate in the Permaculture movement.
Sixteen pages, halfsheet.
Dale Spiers
Box 6830
Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7
$3 Cash, trade for letter, zine, letter of comment
No stamps or checks.
Dear Reader, at last, I can provide some insights into the enigma that is Dale Spiers. This dude is an ecclectic, amazing intellect, but I often wondered what he did for a living. How could his enormous reading habit be supported in both his professional and personal lives in modern times?
Apparently, he is a hybrid of Kerouac and MacGyver who works for the Calgary Parks Department as a Trouble Calls Supervisor. How cool is that? A man who is literate in economics, history and popular mechanics, who drives an enormous truck, helping those in distress! A modern Superhero! Okay, enough editorializing and onto an actual review....
Topics in this edition of Opuntia, Letters to the Editor, issue are split between the price and future of oil and Dale's highly entertaining job.
The oil discussion is lively, although out of date; oil has dropped through the floor. Gloat no more, Ye Northern Sheiks.
Dale describes his job in scenarios. At the conclusion of each troubleshooting scene, he punctuates with a great catch phrase: no further action required. I think I'll end as many emails, in my professional life, this way as possible.
It's Fuchi, No?
Author of this hilarious thing, please contact Leeking Inc with price and contact info and we'll gladly amend this review.
This is everything I wish for in a zine – a totally bizarre experience that is somewhat crude and very funny. In my envelope of delights containing It's Fuchi, No? there is a 2008 calendar, which features a creature-a-month, pleasantly mooning the reader. The drawings are so hilarious in their expressivness and artful crappiness. In fact, crap makes an appearance in August!
Also included were Kappa cards (sized and styled sort of like Tarot Cards): amusing factoids and illustrations, describing a mythical, child-eating, sometimes charming, but mostly murderous creature. Here is a sample:
“Kappas are mischievous. Sometimes they like to engage in harmless pranks like loudly breaking wind (There's a Japanese phrase, Kappa no he, which means 'just a kappa fart'. It means much ado about nothing.) or looking up ladies' kimonos. But don't be fooled into thinking that Kappa's just one of the guys. He will kill you given the chance. He prefers to eat children, but he will eat an adult.”
On the verso of the card is a great and crude drawing of a farting, turtle-like creature with a wild, monk-like hairdo.
The third goody in the envelope of delights is a small zine collection of cartoons aimed at being less funny than Ziggy. The author admits it was an ambitious, but self-proclaimed failure. I agree, for as un-funny as some of the cartoons aim to be, they are still damn funny. Much funnier than Ziggy. The author sums it up best, “...I think I failed. I think my comics are actually funnier. That's not to say they're funny: they're not. They're just no Ziggy.”
The Divine and Breaking Wind has touched the author of It's Fuchi, No? and I rejoice.
The final item is a collection of chinese cookie fortunes, stapled together. The fortunes caused me to guffaw aloud. Here are a few:
“You will be engulfed in thighs.”
“Don't shave, it'll make your head look small.”
“Must you constantly deal in chicanery?”
“Your friends value your loyalty and your manipulability.”
The Juniper #10.5 – Summer of Slow
Dan Murphy
P.O. Box 3154
Moscow, ID 83843
juniperjournal@hotmail.com
www.juniperbug.blogspot.com
Send a stamp, first class mail.
Likes letters to the editor, needs help with distribution.
A delicious Black and White minizine: photos of Dan Murphy's gorgeous garden, even in B&W, you can smell the Earth, and taste the sweet, soft summer air as it caresses the vegetation.
It's cold out where I am, and there is a dusting of snow, now getting to be more than just dust. I am feeling sorry for myself so even this scrap of summer provides succor to a suffering soul.
Carrots and Condoms, Winter 2008
Coco Negro
P.O. Box 163327
Sacramento, CA 95816
quotethecat@riseup.net
$3 well-concealed cash
On a personal note, this zine struck a chord of memory with me: that feeling I had just after college, where the working world was so repugnant, so horrible, it drove me mad with despair.
I didn't discover the desire to farm or to somehow create a Portland, OR where I was; I went down in flames of defeat.
So, to you, Coco, you go girl! Keep the passion alive and change the world because NOW is the time. Korporate Amerika is on the run; we are going to have to re-invent the American dream; and you, my dear, young soul, are just where you need to be.
This zine, to me, examines our connection to Nature, and what we can do to heal the dysfunctional relationship that agribusiness and modern life have caused us. As a species, we suffer from a gross separation from the Earth.
Coco describes the Permaculture movement and relates her excellent time spent with this new wave of hippies and Kerouac-inspired hobos.
What Permaculture aims to do is to create a lifestyle that has as close to zero impact on the environment. Recycling on steroids. Think composting, sod huts, heirloom seeds, companion planting, any sort of technique to allow us the bounty of Nature without causing her pain.
The zine itself is a great resource for learning more about Permaculture and organic farms that employ work-traders (highly-educated-itinerant farmers). Two organizations, of the many listed, are Mountain Homestead Community in Oregon and Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in Missouri.
The zine has an exhaustive listing of organizations and is chock full of ideas for those who would like to participate in the Permaculture movement.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Call for Submissions: a tribute to sound idea records and bob suren
Bacontowne's next issue is a tribute to sound idea records and bob suren. the record store closed last month after 13 and a half years. it was the best diy record store in florida and people traveled from all over to visit. we are looking for sound idea related columns, stories about bob and the store and also, we would like to hear from touring bands that have played there. we can also use art, photos and old ads related to the store. anything sound idea related. deadline is december 19, 2008. the zine will be in print and formally released on january 21, 2009. this is coincidentally heather bacontowne's 30th birthday!
marck and heather bacontowne
bacontowne records///sinkhole zine
po box 1063
tallevast, fl 34270
myspace/bacontownerecords
bacontowne@yahoo.com
marck and heather bacontowne
bacontowne records///sinkhole zine
po box 1063
tallevast, fl 34270
myspace/bacontownerecords
bacontowne@yahoo.com
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Call for Submissions: Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! Transit Stories
Eight-Stone Press – publisher of the award-winning SMILE, HON , YOU’RE IN BALTIMORE! series – is seeking your transit-themed stories, essays, poetry, photography and other artwork for an upcoming special focus issue of SMILE, HON .
Potential topics/perspectives of interest include, but are not limited to: mass transit (including bus, MARC, subway, air travel, etc.); automobile (including commuting, taxis, etc.); bicycle (including city, rural, etc.); and pedestrian ventures. Articles (100 - 2,000 words) are preferably received via e-mail (wpt@eightstonepress.com) as attached Word documents. Image files should be at least 5” x 7”, 300+ dpi (. TIF , .JPG, or .PDF format). All contributors will receive a byline/artistic credit for their work as well as two (2) complimentary copies of the issue in which their work appears. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2008 .
SMILE, HON , YOU’RE IN BALTIMORE ! is an Eight-Stone Press production, available locally for purchase at Atomic Books (Hampden); Baltimore Chop Books, Music & Coffee House (Ridgley’s Delight); Harbor News (Harbor East) and Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse ( Mt. Vernon ). SMILE, HON is also shelved for loan as part of the Baltimore County Public Library’s Zine Collection (Cockeysville Branch).
For more information, contact:
William P. Tandy, Editor
Eight-Stone Press
P.O. Box 11064
Baltimore , Maryland 21212
Wpt@eightstonepress.com
http://www.eightstonepress.com
http://www.myspace.com/eightstonepress
Potential topics/perspectives of interest include, but are not limited to: mass transit (including bus, MARC, subway, air travel, etc.); automobile (including commuting, taxis, etc.); bicycle (including city, rural, etc.); and pedestrian ventures. Articles (100 - 2,000 words) are preferably received via e-mail (wpt@eightstonepress.com) as attached Word documents. Image files should be at least 5” x 7”, 300+ dpi (. TIF , .JPG, or .PDF format). All contributors will receive a byline/artistic credit for their work as well as two (2) complimentary copies of the issue in which their work appears. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2008 .
SMILE, HON , YOU’RE IN BALTIMORE ! is an Eight-Stone Press production, available locally for purchase at Atomic Books (Hampden); Baltimore Chop Books, Music & Coffee House (Ridgley’s Delight); Harbor News (Harbor East) and Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse ( Mt. Vernon ). SMILE, HON is also shelved for loan as part of the Baltimore County Public Library’s Zine Collection (Cockeysville Branch).
For more information, contact:
William P. Tandy, Editor
Eight-Stone Press
P.O. Box 11064
Baltimore , Maryland 21212
Wpt@eightstonepress.com
http://www.eightstonepress.com
http://www.myspace.com/eightstonepress
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
More Reviews From Eric
So I have a little zine related problem. A while back I got a couple of bucks in the mail from a guy ordering a copy of my zine. So of course I send him a copy . A couple of weeks later I get my envelope returned to me saying it was undeliverable as addressed. So I go back and find the guy’s order (I always wonder why I save these things, but then a situation comes where I need something I saved for no apparent reason which gives me the go ahead to save everything and anything.) and I compare the address on his envelope (he didn’t include the address on the note he sent which tells me he was a newbie to zines) and find that I did in fact copy down his address wrong. It was something like 4321 Street St. and I wrote 432 Street St. I would assume that since I got the guy’s name, street, city and zip code correct the postal worker could have delivered it easily enough, but the fact is I screwed up copying it down so... whatever. I re-address an envelope, write a note of apology, and drop it back in the mail box... only to have it returned back to me a week or so later with a “return to sender” sticker and a note reading “not at this address.” So now some poor guy ordered my zine and will never receive it because... I don’t know why. I copied the address exactly the same as it was on his envelope to me so he either copied his own address wrong or in the space of a month he moved and left no forwarding address. Either way, some guy out there in Portland OR is thinking I’m a dick for taking his $2 and sending him nothing in return and possibly being soured on the whole idea of zines because of this. I’ve always prided myself on the fact that I respond very quickly to cash orders so this gnaws at me. Plus there’s the very notion that one of the few people in this world who is A) interested in reading my zine and B) actually takes the initiative to order a copy can’t read it. I’m really starting to depress myself now so I will move on to some reviews.
OPUNTIA 65.1- Sixty five issues. That’s a whole lot of issues, man. Props for Dale Speirs for making it that far. Since this issue is 65.1 that means it’s a review issue. Apparently the format of Dale’s zine revolves every 4 issues. It goes from a review zine to a per zine to an index to an APA zine. The bulk of this zine features a few in depth book reviews, several pages of zine listings that give a nice overview as to the zine’s contents, excerpts of various things Dale has read (which quite frankly went over my head.) an interesting bit on running a club zine and a bit on the state of zinedom where dale gives a year by year comparison of how many zines he’s received for said year. This is a nice, low key zine and Dale seems like an interesting guy worth getting to know. 5.5 x 8.5 16 pages. Send $3, a trade or a letter of comment to Dale Speirs Box 6830, Calgary Alberta Canada, T2P 2E7
MARAUDER #1 and 2- These are auto bio comix with some fiction thrown in. Truth is I enjoyed the auto bio stuff, many of which revolve around his old fast food job, getting high and sometimes both. The fictional stories revolve around the author traveling through time with a talking parrot which just didn’t do it for me. They were sort of a framing device, but I would have been perfectly happy with for auto-bio stuff. I did really like the drawing style and overall it was pretty entertaining. The good parts were very good and the bad parts weren’t that bad. 28 pages 8.5 x 11. Send $3 or maybe a trade to J. Sumii PO Box 140696 Boise ID 83714 jsumii@hotmail.com http://www.jimsumii.com/
HIGH MAINTENANCE MACHINE #21- This is one I got at the Boston Zine Fair and it has actually become something of a favorite of mine, having read exactly 2 of the 21 issues. These are diary comics mostly revolving around Matthew, his wife, and his cats. These comics kind of remind me of James Kolchaka’s though I’m not sure if there are any real similarities or if it’s just the fact that they both do diary comics and have a slightly similar drawing style. It can’t be easy doing a new comic strip every day and having it be both funnier and more insightful than pretty much anything you’ll se in your newspaper comics section, but Matt pulls it off beautifully. 36 pages half sized. Send $3 to Matthew Reidsma 31 Walnut St Somerville MA 02143 http://www.reidsma.com/
GERANIUMS & BACON #5- Another favorite from the Boston Zine Fair. More mostly auto bio comics by Cathy Leamy (I say mostly because while I can’t be sure I’m fairly certain the story about digging up a medieval mecha battle suit in her grandfather’s garden may not have really happened. ) I particularly enjoyed the story about Cathy going to the Filene’s Basement bridal sale just to see what it’s like. It’s an annual event and ever since I was a wee sprat I’d see clips of this on the news and I never understood the point of it all. It always just looked to me like a bunch of crazy woman literally tackling each other to get cheap dresses. It seems to me like it’s about as far away from fun as you can possibly get, but these maniacal mobs of women always seem to be smiling as they pummel each other for wedding dresses so what do I know? But thanks to Cathy I now know what it’s like so I have no more lingering curiosity about it. I like when people experience things I’m curious about but will never do and really never want to do. At any rate I like this zine a lot and you should too. for info e mail cathy@metrokitty.com comics.metrokitty.com
OPUNTIA 65.1- Sixty five issues. That’s a whole lot of issues, man. Props for Dale Speirs for making it that far. Since this issue is 65.1 that means it’s a review issue. Apparently the format of Dale’s zine revolves every 4 issues. It goes from a review zine to a per zine to an index to an APA zine. The bulk of this zine features a few in depth book reviews, several pages of zine listings that give a nice overview as to the zine’s contents, excerpts of various things Dale has read (which quite frankly went over my head.) an interesting bit on running a club zine and a bit on the state of zinedom where dale gives a year by year comparison of how many zines he’s received for said year. This is a nice, low key zine and Dale seems like an interesting guy worth getting to know. 5.5 x 8.5 16 pages. Send $3, a trade or a letter of comment to Dale Speirs Box 6830, Calgary Alberta Canada, T2P 2E7
MARAUDER #1 and 2- These are auto bio comix with some fiction thrown in. Truth is I enjoyed the auto bio stuff, many of which revolve around his old fast food job, getting high and sometimes both. The fictional stories revolve around the author traveling through time with a talking parrot which just didn’t do it for me. They were sort of a framing device, but I would have been perfectly happy with for auto-bio stuff. I did really like the drawing style and overall it was pretty entertaining. The good parts were very good and the bad parts weren’t that bad. 28 pages 8.5 x 11. Send $3 or maybe a trade to J. Sumii PO Box 140696 Boise ID 83714 jsumii@hotmail.com http://www.jimsumii.com/
HIGH MAINTENANCE MACHINE #21- This is one I got at the Boston Zine Fair and it has actually become something of a favorite of mine, having read exactly 2 of the 21 issues. These are diary comics mostly revolving around Matthew, his wife, and his cats. These comics kind of remind me of James Kolchaka’s though I’m not sure if there are any real similarities or if it’s just the fact that they both do diary comics and have a slightly similar drawing style. It can’t be easy doing a new comic strip every day and having it be both funnier and more insightful than pretty much anything you’ll se in your newspaper comics section, but Matt pulls it off beautifully. 36 pages half sized. Send $3 to Matthew Reidsma 31 Walnut St Somerville MA 02143 http://www.reidsma.com/
GERANIUMS & BACON #5- Another favorite from the Boston Zine Fair. More mostly auto bio comics by Cathy Leamy (I say mostly because while I can’t be sure I’m fairly certain the story about digging up a medieval mecha battle suit in her grandfather’s garden may not have really happened. ) I particularly enjoyed the story about Cathy going to the Filene’s Basement bridal sale just to see what it’s like. It’s an annual event and ever since I was a wee sprat I’d see clips of this on the news and I never understood the point of it all. It always just looked to me like a bunch of crazy woman literally tackling each other to get cheap dresses. It seems to me like it’s about as far away from fun as you can possibly get, but these maniacal mobs of women always seem to be smiling as they pummel each other for wedding dresses so what do I know? But thanks to Cathy I now know what it’s like so I have no more lingering curiosity about it. I like when people experience things I’m curious about but will never do and really never want to do. At any rate I like this zine a lot and you should too. for info e mail cathy@metrokitty.com comics.metrokitty.com
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Extranjero #7 (review by Davida)
Unas vacaciones en el extranjero, a foreign holiday
I received this issue just before I went to Germany for a work trip. I decided to save it, figuring it would heighten the reading experience of reading about an ex-pat returning home for a visit while visiting a foreign country myself. I was not disappointed. Kris has lived away from the US for some time now and in many respects the ways of “modern” American life are now as foreign to him as I’m sure Spain once was. He noticed the plethora of electronic goods in his parents’ home, but chooses not to own a TV at home in Spain. He is overwhelmed by the supermarket, which is more like a department store, as well as all the stomach medicines needed for the gluttonous. He takes Lola to places of his youth, as well as places offering “a true American experience” – at least as far as Pennsylvania goes – a gun and outdoors MEGA-mart. They also spend an idyllic week in the Virgin Islands. It was definitely interesting hearing Kris’s take on the US from a now outsiders perspective.
Trade or donation/Digest/28 pages
Kris & Lola, Calle Obispo 4B, Plasencia 10600, Caceres, Spain
I received this issue just before I went to Germany for a work trip. I decided to save it, figuring it would heighten the reading experience of reading about an ex-pat returning home for a visit while visiting a foreign country myself. I was not disappointed. Kris has lived away from the US for some time now and in many respects the ways of “modern” American life are now as foreign to him as I’m sure Spain once was. He noticed the plethora of electronic goods in his parents’ home, but chooses not to own a TV at home in Spain. He is overwhelmed by the supermarket, which is more like a department store, as well as all the stomach medicines needed for the gluttonous. He takes Lola to places of his youth, as well as places offering “a true American experience” – at least as far as Pennsylvania goes – a gun and outdoors MEGA-mart. They also spend an idyllic week in the Virgin Islands. It was definitely interesting hearing Kris’s take on the US from a now outsiders perspective.
Trade or donation/Digest/28 pages
Kris & Lola, Calle Obispo 4B, Plasencia 10600, Caceres, Spain
Syndicate Product 13.0, The TV Issue (review by Davida)
Full disclosure – I contributed to this issue. However, I always enjoy A.j.’s compilation issues and pop cultural analysis, which one of the reasons I contributed. One of my favorite pieces was Celia Perez’s youthful recollections of being obsessed with the mini-series “North and South”. She and three friends even went so far as to write letters to one another in character. She also contributes a piece on telenovelas. Ken Bausert recalls the first TV his family bought and still has the “portable TV” his brother came home with around 1949. Kris (of Extranjero) writes about viewing 9/11 on a small B&W TV in rural Ireland. Eric Lyden contributes some fun facts and Gianni Simone attempts to explain Japanese reality TV. A.j. delves into TV music and how you no longer even need a TV to watch TV.
$3/Digest/28 pgs
A.j. Michel
PO Box 877, Lansdowne, PA 19050
syndprod@gmail.com
www.syndicateproduct.com
$3/Digest/28 pgs
A.j. Michel
PO Box 877, Lansdowne, PA 19050
syndprod@gmail.com
www.syndicateproduct.com
Fish with Legs #12 (Review by Davida)
Fw/L is one of my favorite perzines. It could come off as 36 pages of rambling, but it is interesting rambling. Eric touches on some difficult subjects – his cat Buddy dying and the health of his grandparents – but much of the issue is dominated by Eric’s stint as a juror. I can understand his desire to get out of it, but also the curiosity of wanting to be involved. It turns out to be a drug case, one where the legality and the morality are at odds. I kind of wanted to add the “dun-dun” of "Law and Order" while reading it. There is also a section of fun facts, including an act of civil disobedience/performance art in the 8th grade. It is always fun to spend time with 36 pages of Eric.
$2/Digest/36 pgs
Eric Lyden
224 Moraine St., Brockton, MA 02301
ericfishlegs@aol.com or eric.lyden@gmail.com
$2/Digest/36 pgs
Eric Lyden
224 Moraine St., Brockton, MA 02301
ericfishlegs@aol.com or eric.lyden@gmail.com
Worry Stone #1 (review by Davida)
Jerianne started this new zine as a way to bring forth and clarify much of what worries her. She is in a relationship with a legally blind man with diabetes and they have a young child. Add in a career and a house and there are more than enough anxieties to go around. Much of this issue centered around diabetes and Denny’s experiences with the disease. Youthfully recklessness and not having insurance both impacted his health and ultimately his vision, but he was able to retain some vision in his left eye thanks to surgery. It was an interesting look at being the partner of someone with major health issues and how she views/fears the future.
Jerianne
PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN 37133
jerianne@undergroundpress.org
Jerianne
PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro, TN 37133
jerianne@undergroundpress.org
About My Disappearance #1 and #2 (review by Davida)
I used to love Dave Roche’s zine On Subbing, about his trials and travails as a substitute teacher. Then Dave disappeared and I didn’t hear from him again for several years. These two issues delve into why. Dave health begins to deteriorate and over the course of two months he becomes a shell of his former self, weighing about 100 pounds and not wanting to see or talk to anyone. He is ultimately diagnosed with Crone’s Disease, a chronic digestive disorder. He is nursed back to health by his father and various medications. The first issue deals with his first flare up and the months of recovery he experienced. The affects of the disease are not simply physical, and how Dave views himself, his fears, and his desire to be around others are all deeply influenced. The second issue continues his chronicles of dealing with Crone’s, but Dave is also1) hit by a car and breaks two bones, 2) hit by another car, 3) moves to Philadelphia and is jumped and beaten unconscious, and as a result moves back to his family in the Midwest.
$1-2?/Mini/52 pgs (#1), 24 pgs (#2)
Dave Roche
poodrow@hotmail.com
$1-2?/Mini/52 pgs (#1), 24 pgs (#2)
Dave Roche
poodrow@hotmail.com
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
In My Mailbox 11-5-08
Hey there,
Funny thing: My PO Box is always jammed full of stuff, but there're fewer and fewer actual zines. Weird. I get a lot of correspondence from folks, and I still get a fair amount of single-issue orders or subs through the mail, but fewer and fewer zines.
Still, the ones i do get are generally excellent:
- "SMile, Hon You're in Baltimore" #10 ($3, William P. Tandy, Eight Stone Press, POB 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.eightstonepress.com). Sturdy, good-looking zine from the somewhat brilliant Bill Tandy. Without reading a wiord I know it's gonna be cool.
- The Ken Chronicles #9 ($2, Ken Bausert, 2140 Erma Drive, East MEadow, NY 11554-1120; passscribe@aol.com) Further entry in the new(ish) perzine from the former editor of Passions. Ken mentions the drying-up of printed zines as well, and is adjusting his print run downward so that only trades and people he knows want a copy get one, so if you're interested, request one directly.
And that was it for actual issues. My office has become a wasteland of disorganization, so I have this creepy feeling I had a load of thing to add in here that have been lost. Wouldn't surprise me. What with the drinking and all.
L
J
Funny thing: My PO Box is always jammed full of stuff, but there're fewer and fewer actual zines. Weird. I get a lot of correspondence from folks, and I still get a fair amount of single-issue orders or subs through the mail, but fewer and fewer zines.
Still, the ones i do get are generally excellent:
- "SMile, Hon You're in Baltimore" #10 ($3, William P. Tandy, Eight Stone Press, POB 11064, Baltimore, MD 21212; www.eightstonepress.com). Sturdy, good-looking zine from the somewhat brilliant Bill Tandy. Without reading a wiord I know it's gonna be cool.
- The Ken Chronicles #9 ($2, Ken Bausert, 2140 Erma Drive, East MEadow, NY 11554-1120; passscribe@aol.com) Further entry in the new(ish) perzine from the former editor of Passions. Ken mentions the drying-up of printed zines as well, and is adjusting his print run downward so that only trades and people he knows want a copy get one, so if you're interested, request one directly.
And that was it for actual issues. My office has become a wasteland of disorganization, so I have this creepy feeling I had a load of thing to add in here that have been lost. Wouldn't surprise me. What with the drinking and all.
L
J
Sunday, November 2, 2008
an alien here by leah angstman (review by Anne)
alternating current
alt.current@gmail.com
alt.current.com
$3, including shipping (out-of-US add $2)
2 inches wide by 2.75 tall (1/16 size)
I love this concept so much I didn't want to screw up the description, so I'm borrowing their website's words: "an alien here is the first book in our series of Pocket Protector books. Pocket Protectors are a continuing anthology of pint-sized 1/16-page-size, charming chapbooks, containing 15-30 poems each (depending on length), that are part of an ongoing series showcasing a different poet each month. an alien here, the first in the series, contains 18 previously unpublished poems and cover artwork by award-winning underground author leah angstman."
Seriously. These books are tiny and fantastic. I believe there have been two others published (check out their website & blog for details) and though I haven't read those other books yet I imagine they're of the same caliber of angstman's work. They're published every month, and "poets are chosen by invitation only" (which I have to confess I kind of love). angstman's work is vivid; always the right word for the right moment, emphasis precisely placed, graphic by turns but always very compassionate. Even when responding "i have nothing to say / but/ yeah" to post-coital odd phrasings from one's lover, angstman's context evokes real feeling in the reader. They're passionate and daring (other reviewers have used this word as well; I repeat it because it's apt). Her poetry shows a precision that's sometimes hard to find, and this volume showcases 16 of her pieces, ranging from a longer piece like the sprawling "1926" through to shorter pieces like "on the level." My favorite, the terse "i don't respond to hey baby" is vivid and gives the reader concrete, precise images all pearls and carnivals and Pepsi. Highly recommended, especially if you're interested in poetry.
alt.current@gmail.com
alt.current.com
$3, including shipping (out-of-US add $2)
2 inches wide by 2.75 tall (1/16 size)
I love this concept so much I didn't want to screw up the description, so I'm borrowing their website's words: "an alien here is the first book in our series of Pocket Protector books. Pocket Protectors are a continuing anthology of pint-sized 1/16-page-size, charming chapbooks, containing 15-30 poems each (depending on length), that are part of an ongoing series showcasing a different poet each month. an alien here, the first in the series, contains 18 previously unpublished poems and cover artwork by award-winning underground author leah angstman."
Seriously. These books are tiny and fantastic. I believe there have been two others published (check out their website & blog for details) and though I haven't read those other books yet I imagine they're of the same caliber of angstman's work. They're published every month, and "poets are chosen by invitation only" (which I have to confess I kind of love). angstman's work is vivid; always the right word for the right moment, emphasis precisely placed, graphic by turns but always very compassionate. Even when responding "i have nothing to say / but/ yeah" to post-coital odd phrasings from one's lover, angstman's context evokes real feeling in the reader. They're passionate and daring (other reviewers have used this word as well; I repeat it because it's apt). Her poetry shows a precision that's sometimes hard to find, and this volume showcases 16 of her pieces, ranging from a longer piece like the sprawling "1926" through to shorter pieces like "on the level." My favorite, the terse "i don't respond to hey baby" is vivid and gives the reader concrete, precise images all pearls and carnivals and Pepsi. Highly recommended, especially if you're interested in poetry.
Below Noon #3 (review by Anne)
Below Noon #3
c/o Angie P
P.O. Box 42123
Portland, OR 97242
angie97202 [at] gmail.com
$2 USD, trades OK, 1/4 page size, 49 (?) pages
How exciting! I reviewed Below Noon #2 by Angie P. a while back and now I've got #3, published in May, in front of me. It's still a small zine with a mighty lot of wallop: I'm eager to see #4 when it's finished. The form is the same, listed out on a lovely contents page (the design elements in this issue seem much stronger than in #2). Remember, we're reading what Angie called in issue #2 "experimental story-telling" with "2 main sections: one with somewhat structured stories...and another section that's more improv." The structure holds, here; it's still an engaging read, the design/aesthetics are very strong, and the cover's particularly cool.
The section "postcards to some kids i knew in elementary school" is evocative and fascinating: it's something I liked in #2, that sense of brevity (well, you're forced into it because of the space on a postcard) but with the feeling that there's a much larger story behind the one you're getting. It's captivating. There's a lot happening here, and in such a small space, that the tight organization really helps move it forward. I'm waiting for the next one...
c/o Angie P
P.O. Box 42123
Portland, OR 97242
angie97202 [at] gmail.com
$2 USD, trades OK, 1/4 page size, 49 (?) pages
How exciting! I reviewed Below Noon #2 by Angie P. a while back and now I've got #3, published in May, in front of me. It's still a small zine with a mighty lot of wallop: I'm eager to see #4 when it's finished. The form is the same, listed out on a lovely contents page (the design elements in this issue seem much stronger than in #2). Remember, we're reading what Angie called in issue #2 "experimental story-telling" with "2 main sections: one with somewhat structured stories...and another section that's more improv." The structure holds, here; it's still an engaging read, the design/aesthetics are very strong, and the cover's particularly cool.
The section "postcards to some kids i knew in elementary school" is evocative and fascinating: it's something I liked in #2, that sense of brevity (well, you're forced into it because of the space on a postcard) but with the feeling that there's a much larger story behind the one you're getting. It's captivating. There's a lot happening here, and in such a small space, that the tight organization really helps move it forward. I'm waiting for the next one...
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