Posts

Posted on

New Zine Podcast: Poor Lass Zine!

Hello, zine friends!

I am very excited to let you know that there is a new zine podcast on the block:

The Poor Lass Zine podcast!

I’ve just listened to their first episode, and I think it’s so fun. The whole thing was very warm and inviting – two friends chatting about their zine series and such. I wanted to pour a cup of tea myself just listening. (C’mon Yorkshire Tea!)

It’s available on Soundcloud as well as on iTunes. (Sorry for not having the iTunes link – I’m not an iTunes user and don’t know how to get to it if I don’t want to sign up.)

Definitely check it out.

Posted on

2018 Plans & Little Announcement

Hello, zine friends!

I hope this post finds you well and adjusting to the year. January 2nd is always a little weirder than the 1st because the glow is dying down, and the real work of the year begins. Small adjustments are already being made to keep those resolutions and whatnot.

For instance, I’ve come to see that I loaded a lot more on my plate than I realised, so it’s time to reevaluate things now before being burned out later.

It’s all a process, but enough of my prattling.

2018

It’s the time of year for plans, intentions, changes, so on and so forth. It’s also the time of year for creators – no matter what you create – to announce on various platforms what’s happening. While I don’t have a heap to report, I figured I’d join in and let you know what’s happening in my head.

*ZINES
– Don’t Call Me Cupcake: I’m taking a little break from Don’t Call Me Cupcake. Writing 9 and 9.5 was really intense for me, and I need to work on ‘lighter’ projects just for a little while.

– Dear Anonymous: Dear Anonymous 7 will be finished and sent out very soon. I apologise for the delay. I set dates back when moving dates were really flexible, and I forgot to adjust dates for the zine. At the moment, I just have to put everything together and then save the money to send the contributor copies.

– Paper Currency: I really want to focus a lot more on this zine this year. I’m still really excited about the idea and want it to be a great resource for zine people around the world.

– Missives From Murray Bridge: If you know what this is, no worries; it’s sticking around. If you don’t know what it is, that’s okay. It’s a silly little something I put together every now and then.

– Other zines: There are still a stack of zine ideas I’d love to make. I think by shuffling around a few priorities, I will be making a lot more one-off zines in 2018.

THE BLOG – I always want to be moving forward with things, but I feel like the blog is going well right now in the current way of doing things. Happy Mail Monday, reviews Thursdays and Fridays, calls for submissions and event announcements on the weekends. I like the rhythm of it, and it’s a workload I keep up with for the most part.

Ideally, I’d like to review three zines a week, but I’m really not seeing that happen. Not with what I’m announcing below. I also feel like that would be stacking things too heavily in that area. If I do anything else, I want it to be something fresh and different.

*OTHER PROJECTS – I haven’t forgotten what I was saying last year about starting an APA. I do still really love the idea of it, but there are a lot of logistics I need to work out before I can go forward with it. But yes, it is still on the cards.

I know. Not very exciting, but now you know where my head is at.

Now, for the little announcement…

Finally! Finally, finally, finally, I am starting my own podcast about zines!

I probably shouldn’t even be announcing this because I don’t have a firm start date (still waiting on some things to arrive in the mail and such), but I’ve been finding myself hiding behind note-taking and perfectionism due to the anxiety involved. I am absolutely terrified, but if I announce it, then it’s out in the world, eh?

I will have links for you as soon as I can get everything set up. (I had some hiccups trying to set things up online, but I’m slowly getting them sorted.) As much as I am scared, I am also really excited. Many people weighed in to vote about whether I should do this, and some of you even messaged me about your thoughts on the matter. I value your feedback, and it was lovely to know I’d have support going into this.

Anyway, that’s me for today and my plans for the year so far.

If you have any questions (perhaps questions for the FAQ section of the podcast?), thoughts, or requests for this blog, The Zine Collector, or anything else, please let me know. I’m always happy to hear from you.

Until next time.

Posted on

Happy Mail Monday: 2018 Happy New Year Edition

Yeah, that post title is a bit of a hot mess, but here we are and there we go! Hahaha.

I am in a brilliant mood, zine friends. I love New Year’s. I feel like it’s the one enjoyable major holiday that hasn’t been messed with past not-great stuff. Less expectation, more hope and fun. In general, of course. New Year’s can be less than amazing and downright scary, too, so big hugs and lots of encouragement from me if you’re feeling that way.

I also love that 2018 is starting on a Monday (I know – shock horror). I like starting things on Mondays, I get an extra energy boost in starting the work week, and, of course…

Happy Mail!

Thanks to Sensitive Adult Daily (https://www.sensitiveadultdaily.com), I have some awesome zine happy mail to start the year off with!

“Sensitive Adult Daily is a community of sensitive adults who, through creative work, document the struggle of living with lots of feelings.” I first came across Sensitive Adult Daily at Festival of the Photocopier 2016. I reviewed it and have been interested ever since.

They were kind enough to send the whole lot over, and I’m so happy to get started reading them. Thank you so much to Sensitive Adult Daily.

That’s me for today, zine friends. I know today would have been ideal for ‘2018 Plans’ and such, but how could I pass up a Happy Mail Monday – especially when it happens to be the very first day of the year?

Big hugs and zine on!

Posted on

Call for Submissions: All In Your Head Issue 8: To The Bone

[Image Description: drawing of a skeleton arching their back and tilting head backward. Text reads: call for submissions. Issue #8: To The Bone”]

Call for Submissions!

All in Your Head is a queer/feminist traditional cut-and-paste style zine with a focus on LGBTQIA neurodivergent and disabled activists, zinesters, artists, and authors, sponsored by GlitterWurst Zine Distro. Our zine operates on the following *principles:

1.) social inequality and injustice exists [racism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, cissexism to name a few];
2.) disability, neurodiversity can be understood as a viable form of human difference that intersects with/is shaped by systems of dominance;
3.) claims that there is a “normal” bodymind can have damaging and harmful effects (physically/emotionally/spiritually) and are partly shaped by current social/cultural values and white western colonial histories;
4.) neuroqueer and disabled people must navigate cultural taboos, move among complex institutions and systems of care and negotiate conflicting ideas of “wellness/illness,“ “silence/disclosure,” “visibility/invisibility;” “dis/ability” and more
5.) most importantly, our stories matter. (*this list is by no means exhaustive)

We are seeking submissions for issue #8 of All in Your Head: TO THE BONE: OUR QUEER CRIP BODIES, OURSELVES. We accept many kinds of submissions including but not limited to: essays, short stories, poems, personal narratives, manifestos, rants, drawings, doodles, illustrations, photography, collage, book or movie reviews (related to the theme), song lyrics, playlists, short plays/monologues and more! We resist the notion that there is such as thing as a “good writer/good artist” and seek to dismantle, critique, and challenge that “good writing/good art” means from a queer, disabled, neurodivergent perspective.

Some possible topics for TO THE BONE may include:
-Reclaiming and living in our bodies which exist at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, size, and a multitude of other differences.
-Visceral knowing, alternative modes of thinking, perceiving, feeling via a queer crip, neuroqueer bodymind.
-Queer disabled engagements with artistic or spiritual bodily movement and practice such as: dance, yoga, theater, slam poetry, film, singing (and others!).
-Critiques of and engagements with the notion of “transcending disability.”
-Explorations of the mindbody split trough the lens of disability.
-Analyses of disability, passing, and embodiment.
-The rhetoric of “loss” and disabled embodiment (i.e.: “sight loss,” “loss of limbs”).
-Queer disability, pleasure, body erotics.

*Deadline: February 28th, 2018
*Send submission and bio to: allinyourheadzine@gmail.com
*Please limit your submissions to approximately 1500 words and/or send high quality images of your artwork/photography. *We enthusiastically welcome and prioritize submissions by queer, trans, and disabled IPOC.

All contributors will receive a free copy in the mail!

Posted on

Zine Review: Brainscan 33 DIY Witchery: An Exploration of Secular Witchcraft

Brainscan 33 DIY Witchery: An Exploration of Secular Witchcraft
Alex Wrekk
Upthewitchypunx.tumblr.com

There are infinite ways to witch…

Brainscan 33 is a black (sometimes brown) and white zine that combines info zine and perzine in explorations of secular witchcraft.

I usually mention the aesthetics of zines further into a review, but I really have to start with it this time. Brainscan 33 is the only zine that I have spent just as much time petting and flipping through as I did reading it. From the acorns charm held on by lavender string used to sew the binding to the few different kinds of papers inside, you may find yourself facing the longest commentary on look and feel that you’ve ever written…

I am new to witchcraft but have a keen interest in learning more about it. It’s with that feeling that I approached reading this zine – and I wasn’t disappointed.

Alex starts with a fantastic introduction that states in no uncertain terms that this zine does no exist to convince you, sway you, or otherwise establish a ‘right’ way to witch. While such a strong ‘take it or leave it’ kind of opening can be a little chancy with readers, I think it’s fantastic. It establishes Alex’s desire to share a viewpoint and a story. It’s an invitation rather than a command.

From the introduction, we go into definitions – something I loved and something I’m glad Alex went into first. They served the double purpose of not only making it clear the viewpoint Alex is writing from but also giving you (if you want) a place to start figuring out your own definitions for where you stand.

Brainscan 33 is packed with information – perhaps even more than its 64 pages implies. Alex writes about history, about definitions, and about both the good as well as the not so great. There are clarifications of similarities and differences in witchcraft, religion, Wiccan, and more.

There’s even a ‘Witching Tips’ in the centre of the zine. Very well placed, if you ask me, because one point directly answered a question that had literally just come to my mind moments before I started reading the answer. If that’s not good pacing, I don’t know what is.

Where the information found in this zine certainly drew me in and kept me reading, it’s Alex’s personal ‘witch-jectory’ story that really made me feel a lot of things. I found it easy to identify with life stages like the moment you realise that you can “just do the thing” without permission or a mentor or anyone else. Or how there are times when you need to reclaim a physical space.

I think it’s pretty clear at this point that I have really enjoyed this zine and will be coming back to it in the future. I could keep going on about it, but I think it’s important to leave at least something to be discovered. Haha.

Posted on

Thank You

I want to write a thank you to everyone for your understanding yesterday. The comments and well wishes were absolutely lovely.

Because I believe in being more open about mental illness and ending stigmas, I will share that I seem to be having some bad, cumulative side effects to my medications. It left me feeling exhausted and ill yesterday.

My new GP and I are going to switch things up and address how to take on things in the long term. Meds are all too often trial and error, but at least now we know.

Thank you again, everyone. In the end, a review may be a small thing, but they are very important to me. I hate missing a day no matter what the circumstances, but it helps to know that people understand.

With that said, I should get back to it and type up my notes! Back soon with a review (the last for 2017!).

Posted on

Hiccup in the Force

I apologise, zine friends. I don’t have a review for you today. I’m not feeling well, but fingers crossed I’ll be right as rain and back to it tomorrow.