Month: February 2016

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Dear Anonymous 4 Apology

Dear Anonymous 4 Letters

Dear Anonymous 4 letters!

I want to apologise to everyone who has submitted to Dear Anonymous 4.

I’m sorry.

There are submissions that I have been sitting on for ages, and I am so sorry about that. At first, it was because I simply needed more submissions. I got it into my head that if I didn’t have at least as many letters as I had in Dear Anonymous 3 (the biggest in the series thus far), then I wouldn’t start. I still don’t have that many submissions, but I could have started the zine months ago. What was all about the numbers became, if I’m to be honest, more about my anxiety. It was easier to blame the numbers than it was to face making something creative.

Just because you love something doesn’t mean it can’t cause you anxiety.

Again, I’m sorry for the delay. I truly am. To make it up to you, I will send *PHYSICAL* copies of Dear Anonymous 4 to all contributors. I’d decided to send out digital contributor copies after the cost of sending out Dear Anonymous 3, but I’m taking that back. Physical copies for all!

I promise you, as evidenced by the picture up top, I have begun work on Dear Anonymous 4.

Even though I am working on it now, Dear Anonymous 4 is still open for submissions. Please send your letters (to your boss, to your cat, to the tree outside your bedroom window) to theauthor at inkyblots.com ASAP!

As always, thank you so much for your patience.

Dear Anonymous

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Call for Submissions: Fat Ass

Fat Ass Zine

FAT ASS is an intersectional queer/feminist zine that centers on the experiences of queer fat folks and celebrates the artistry, activism, and work of fat activists. For issue #1 of FAT ASS, we’re looking for submissions related to food and fat bodies.

We’re looking for submissions that address the following topics/themes (and more!):

-Fat bodies and food consumption practices;
-Queerly challenging fat-shaming and diet culture;
-The social context(s) of fat bodies eating, producing, buying food;
-Fat folks in food-production/consumption spaces;
-Racialization/gendering/sizing/disabling of food (i.e.: the connection between meat consumption of misogyny; demonization of foods that are deemed “unhealthy”);
-Fat perspectives on food for healing, self-care, spiritual practice, and/or holistic well-being; (NOTE: we do not condone the empty promises of diet culture so please do not send us diet regimens, “weight loss stories,” before/after pics or other fat-shaming bullshit!);
-Queer/feminist/fat community-building through sharing/producing food;
-Representations of fat bodies and food in the media;
-Fat trans and gender non-conforming perspectives on food and eating;
-Impact of fat and food stigma on queer folks’ livelihood;
-Have an idea that’s not listed above? Send it anyway!

It is a myth that you must be a “good writer” or “good artist” to submit to a zine. We welcome many kinds of writing and artwork: essays, poetry, short stories, photography, doodles, rants, drawings, cartoons/comics, collage…and more!

Send your submissions to FATASSZINE@gmail.com before February 29th, 2016. For written submissions, please use Microsoft Word and submit your writing in .doc or .docx format. (Please try to limit submissions to 2500 words. We are flexible. Let us know if you need a little extra space.) For artwork, please attach high resolution .jpg images to your email. Please include a title for your artwork and any information you think would be pertinent for readers to know about your piece (i.e.: medium, location, tools used). Contributors have the option of sharing a short bio or publishing their work anonymously.

All contributors will receive a free copy!

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Zine Review: ‘Bots Is ‘Bots 6

Bots Is Bots 6

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

Check out my reviews of the other ‘Bots Is ‘Bots issues in the Zine Review Index.

Gregg was kind enough to send me issues 1-6 of his zine ‘Bots Is ‘Bots last year(ish?), and now I’m finally reading issue six.

This issue is unlike the others in that it has very few words – none of which are actually spoken by the characters. Instead of the usual collection of strips, this is one big comic featuring pictures of ‘a day in the life’ for all the bots. From waking to sleep, we follow them through their lives (as they stand as of this issue). It’s sweet, and the variety of layouts kept it interesting and pleasing to the eye.

But… I’m left wondering if this is it for Glad ‘Bot, Mad ‘Bot, Chad ‘Bot, and Sad ‘Bot. The comic itself is a little sad – nostalgic, even. There isn’t a strip for the invitation to play Words with Friends nor is there a strip for the thanks Gregg usually gives out. There’s nothing but Gregg’s name and the name of the zine to go on for contact details.

I hope it’s not the last one.

I think ‘Bots is ‘Bots Issue 6 is a zine that will be more appreciated by someone who has read the zines that came before this one.

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Happy Zine Mail!

I know I’m usually one for posting only one post a day, and Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are for reviews of zines and calls for submissions. But do I really want to wait until Monday to post all of my awesome happy mail?

Nah.

Live Dangerously

How could I wait when I’ve had such lovely arrivals at my post box recently?

Do It Yourself Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfuckin' Sad

I needed to make an Amazon order anyway, so I ordered this on top of everything. But if you want to go right to the source (you should if you can!), then you can find this here at Pioneer Press.

Hello My Name Is

MissMuffcake put this glorious zine together, and this is my contributor copy! I haven’t contributed to a zine in ages, and I felt very special to be a part of this zine on mental illness.

Philip Dearest Mail

Philip Dearest sent me this lovely little zine pack after we sorted out a bit of an Etsy kerfuffle. But the whole thing just goes to show that if you keep your head when something goes wrong, you might just get a better outcome than the original.

Plaid Skirts and Converse Mail

Quinn and I sorted out a trade, and I’m so excited these made it safe and sound from the States. I love it. You can check out Quinn’s work at Touch the Puppet Head.

Happy mailing!

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Zine Review: ‘Bots Is ‘Bots 5

Bots Is Bots 5

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

Check out my reviews of the other ‘Bots Is ‘Bots issues in the Zine Review Index.

Full colour! I always get excited about colour zines. What can I say? This is the first full colour comic zine I’ve ever read, so it’s extra cool. It’s interesting to see how the artist would colour their world.

I have to admit that I was ‘cruising’ with this one as far as the humour went, but then Gregg pulled out the meta (I think I’m using that word correctly) style joke, and it was great. A huge thumbs up for making me literally laugh out loud, and another hat tip for keeping it fresh.

Once again, ‘Bots Is ‘Bots keeps expanding – this time with an interview! Even better, it’s a short and sweet interview. I like interviews, but they’re no fun (to me) when they drag on forever. This one fit right into the format of this zine. Keep it coming.

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Reblog: time for a beatdown

Sometimes, it’s simply not possible to say something better yourself:

Guys… telling a woman she shouldn’t wear yoga pants in public because she’s overweight is something that should never happen. Especially when you follow it up with the fact that it’s nothing to do with how it makes her feel, but she shouldn’t wear them because it’s hurting YOUR eyes. I don’t care if you meant it as a joke or not. You’re a prick and fuck you. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with people? What’s happening to common sense and manners?

Source: time for a beatdown

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Business Cards!

Business Card

Woo! I have business cards!

If there is one thing that I realised at Festival of the Photocopier, it’s that I needed business cards.

Don’t get me wrong. Love of the paper flier is true and strong, but business cards are still more popular. Completely understandable. I realised that I didn’t have one place that included all the spaces I’m active in like Twitter and Instagram as well. All the info in one place. All the zine stuff, anyway. If I had tried to include the author stuff as well, it wouldn’t have been good.

Bubbles!

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Call for Submissions: Fat Ass

Fat Ass Zine

FAT ASS is an intersectional queer/feminist zine that centers on the experiences of queer fat folks and celebrates the artistry, activism, and work of fat activists. For issue #1 of FAT ASS, we’re looking for submissions related to food and fat bodies.

We’re looking for submissions that address the following topics/themes (and more!):

-Fat bodies and food consumption practices;
-Queerly challenging fat-shaming and diet culture;
-The social context(s) of fat bodies eating, producing, buying food;
-Fat folks in food-production/consumption spaces;
-Racialization/gendering/sizing/disabling of food (i.e.: the connection between meat consumption of misogyny; demonization of foods that are deemed “unhealthy”);
-Fat perspectives on food for healing, self-care, spiritual practice, and/or holistic well-being; (NOTE: we do not condone the empty promises of diet culture so please do not send us diet regimens, “weight loss stories,” before/after pics or other fat-shaming bullshit!);
-Queer/feminist/fat community-building through sharing/producing food;
-Representations of fat bodies and food in the media;
-Fat trans and gender non-conforming perspectives on food and eating;
-Impact of fat and food stigma on queer folks’ livelihood;
-Have an idea that’s not listed above? Send it anyway!

It is a myth that you must be a “good writer” or “good artist” to submit to a zine. We welcome many kinds of writing and artwork: essays, poetry, short stories, photography, doodles, rants, drawings, cartoons/comics, collage…and more!

Send your submissions to FATASSZINE@gmail.com before February 29th, 2016. For written submissions, please use Microsoft Word and submit your writing in .doc or .docx format. (Please try to limit submissions to 2500 words. We are flexible. Let us know if you need a little extra space.) For artwork, please attach high resolution .jpg images to your email. Please include a title for your artwork and any information you think would be pertinent for readers to know about your piece (i.e.: medium, location, tools used). Contributors have the option of sharing a short bio or publishing their work anonymously.

All contributors will receive a free copy!