Month: October 2015

Work in Progress
Gemma Flack
http://www.gemmaflack.com/

In the intro, Gemma says that this is not something she usually does (make perzines, talk about herself and her insecurities, etc). Well, for someone who doesn’t usually do this sort of thing, it’s an excellent read. Hell, for someone who does do this sort of thing, it’s an excellent read. I would have assumed she’d been doing perzine stuff for years if she hadn’t stated in the beginning that she didn’t.

Anyway. I really like this zine. I know I say that a lot, but it comes with the territory when you don’t put up reviews of zines you really don’t like. Gemma has a very refreshing voice that ‘clear’ and doesn’t beat you over the head with anything. She states what her world is like and invites you in, but that is where it stays. You go in if you like, take what you will. She doesn’t force anything on you.

I really love how she ties something as complex as space travel and life on other planets with something as (relatively) simple as Star Trek and South Park. The connections aren’t forced or anything; it reads so simply and smoothly that I wonder at the fact that Gemma says she doesn’t consider herself to be a writer.

I think the thing that I appreciated most in this zine is this line in the smack dab middle piece:

I grew up not really knowing anything about feminism.

For someone who didn’t grow up with feminism, hadn’t really heard much of anything about it until university, and someone who still feels out of place when others are talking about it, it was really nice to read this. To be reminded that we all had to start somewhere – even the strongest voices.

And, as much as it means this review getting even longer, I can’t finish this review before I talk about the positivity piece she wrote. It was a ‘wow’ moment for me. I forget that we are rarely alone in our experiences, and many of mine were similar to Gemma’s. How she talked about the amount of time and re-education it took to get to a place of acceptance was a beautiful reminder that you can’t go from A to B instantly. I’m far from where she is, but I’m glad she shared her story so I know that I can get there eventually.

‘Bots is ‘Bots: Issue One
Gregg
http://botsisbots.blogspot.com.au/

Woo! This zine came as an awesome zine trade on Zines A Go Go on Facebook. Gregg was awesomely generous and sent me six issues of ”Bots is ‘Bots’.

‘Bots is ‘Bots is a set of short comics featuring Glad’Bot, Sad’Bot, Mad’Bot, and Chad’Bot. They’re ‘slices of life’ comics that aren’t really impacted by the main characters being robots. Their being robots, however, is a pretty fun quirk to throw into the mix.

It is a quick read. Not only is it a comic, but it’s a fairly uncomplicated one. I quite liked it just for that, though. Sometimes it’s really, really nice to have something that you don’t have to think about – that you can just enjoy.

What I really liked about this zine comes from my novelist side in terms of structure. The very first comic kind of stands out as not quite fitting. It jarred a tiny bit. In a structural way, I loved how Gregg brought is all back – full circle, you could say – with the final comic. I’m not sure how much that’ll make sense if you haven’t checked it out, so you should definitely check it out.

Ker-Bloom! 106 – January – February 2014
artnoose
https://www.etsy.com/shop/artnoose

“Ker-bloom! is a life history letterpress printed in installments.”

The zine world is huge and not mainstream, so it’s simply not possible to read all of the zines out there. Or even hear of all of the zines out there. So when I saw this in Sticky and realised that I’d heard of it somewhere before, I had to grab it.

The quality of the zine itself is undeniable. Textured cardstock cover, letterpress, words indented into the cover, a 300-zine print run (holy guacamole!) with the copy number, the lovely interior paper… It’s a ‘simple’ zine in its simplicity, but the materials and tools used to create it make it gorgeous.

The content inside is a snippet of live. Tales of owning real estate. I don’t know how I do it with picking zines, but I just so happen to have a tiny obsession with real estate. I don’t actually own any, but people have been known to save the real estate sections of the paper for me.

Hey. Love is love.

Anyway, that’s all there is to it. A snippet of life. A tale of heating systems. I liked it and was sad that it was over so soon.

In the end, though, Ker-Bloom is one of those zines that has the quality and reputation that leaves me feeling like I’m back in university wondering if there’s something that I’m missing that everyone understands. That could be my feelings of inadequacy, or I could really be missing something. Ker-Bloom 106 was a pleasant experience, no doubt, but it’s not going into my permanent collection. Am I missing something? Do I need to read more of them? Is it about the duration that this zine has survived?

While Ker-Bloom does have a post address on the back along with ‘artnoose’ as the name, there are no other details as to the creator of the zine or how to contact him or her. While I would usually rave on about this (I’m a lazy lurker), I get the feeling that the lack of URLs and such is actually on purpose. I could guess that it has something to do with keeping to the roots of the zine (it’s been running for a long time), or that it wants to keep with the otherwise ‘classic book’ feel of the zine. I really don’t know. So I won’t rave about it, I’ll merely mention it.

And wonder if I’m not quite understanding something.

Pieces #4 On Lucid Dreaming
Nichole
http://wemakezines.ning.com/profile/Nichole
https://www.etsy.com/shop/fictionandnot

Lucid dreaming! I love lucid dreaming. I’ve only done it a few times, but each time has been amazing. But, moving on, because this is not a review of my lucid dreams.

The beauty of having so many issues of a zine is that I get to see it grow and change. In Pieces #4, I feel like we’ve gone from life musings in a general sense to something ‘outside’ Nichole that she’s passionate about. This zine is packed full not only with her experiences but also with information on lucid dreaming – like techniques to use to help you achieve lucid dreaming.

I really enjoyed that. I feel like it’s a lucid dreaming handbook that I can refer back to when I feel the need. There’s even a list of resources for further reading, which I always appreciate.

About half of the zine is dedicated to her dream diary. Dreams are like sports to me, though: I’d rather be in the action than watching (or reading, in this case) it all happen. Even so, this zine is a keeper.