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Mini-Zine Review: Curse On a Zinester

Curse On a Zinester
ET
http://et-maispourquoi.blogspot.com.au/

Continuing on with the theme of zines that made me laugh, today we have a most excellent zine.

Curse on a Zinester is a mini-zine filled with horrible curses to wish upon your zinester enemies. Each page contains a single curse, though some curses have multiple parts, making an already bad possibility even worse…

Not sure what I’m on about? Think cursing an author with “may you’re their, there, and they’re forever be used incorrectly”. They make me shudder in horror, but I can’t stop myself from giggling a little.

I can’t possibly pick a favourite curse out of the bunch, but the one that really made me laugh on a ‘only zinesters get this’ sort of level was:

May your first customer pay with a $50 note.

I may have let out a little squeal of delight when I read the about page of ET’s blog and found out that they are the very same person who created Instructions for surviving the ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: In rhyming couplets! I reviewed that zine four years ago – almost to the day.

I’m not sure exactly what the word for it is (though there must be a word for it), but this zine brings out the same pleasure you get from identifying with those “Things only an ____ would understand” type articles. Even though you’re reading about situations you would never want to happen to you, you know that part of the reason you’re horrified is because you’re part of the group who understands.

The best part? There is a space at the back to write down your own curse.

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Mini-Zine Review: my dads ugly clock-wall

my dads ugly clock-wall
Poesveryattractivecousin.wordpress.com

I picked this little zine up last Friday at the Melbourne Art Book Fair because it made me laugh. I do so appreciate a smile or a laugh…

There’s something about not just thinking that one’s dad’s clock wall is ugly but thinking it’s so ugly that you need to make a zine out of its magnificent ugliness that makes me literally laugh out loud. It’s probably one of the best demonstrations of ‘zines can be about anything you want’ that I’ve ever seen.

This zine is exactly what it says it is. Its entire contents are small colour pictures of this wall of clocks. I’m a big fan of the absurdist branch of exitentialism, so the absurdity of this little zine. It’s ridiculously funny (to me).

Just so you can get a better view of the size…

The editor side of me does feel a little riled up about the lack of apostrophe in ‘dads’, unnecessary hypenation with ‘clock-wall’, and the misspelling of one’s own URL (I have spelled it correctly above so the link works), so that does take away a little bit from it. While on one side it is a bit nit picky of me, when your zine only has five words and a URL, these sorts of things are going to stand out.

That being said, I was thinking about how I may have to forgive no contact details on a zine this small. Lo and behold, there are details on the back. No excuses, everyone!

So if you like the strange and odd, and you think you may have a similar sense of humour to mine, then you might want to grab this one.

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The Australian Zine Showcase With Sticky Institute at The Melbourne Art Book Fair

Big title for a long post. 🙂 First things first: I’ll be putting the rest of this post behind a ‘more’ tag because it has a lot of pictures. That way it saves a bit of site loading time and trouble for anyone who isn’t looking to read the full post. So click on that tag to read about my adventures in Melbourne on the 17th.

Continue reading “The Australian Zine Showcase With Sticky Institute at The Melbourne Art Book Fair”

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Calling Zine Makers, Libraries, Distros, And the Like

I’m at the very beginning stages of working on a new zine project. As part of this, I would like to include A5/A6 spaces (maybe even A7, if that works for you) that feature things like:

*Zines that have a rolling call for submissions (even if your zine changes theme/topic from issue to issue, an overarching ‘flier’ for the whole series would be awesome)
*Zine distros – whether you want to say ‘check out my distro’, are looking for zines to sell in your distro, or both!
*Zine libraries – again, whether it’s a ‘check us out’, ‘looking for zine donations’, or both, I’d love to see it
*Zine people who want to be included in an ‘open to trades’ section. I’m thinking name, preferred contact (or your mailing addy, if that’s the way you roll), and a few likes/dislikes.

The key thing here is that things be ‘undated’ (hence sharing a zine series rather than one specific call for submissions) so things aren’t out of date before I get the chance to create the thing.

Ideally, I’d like things to be images with text on them because of the limited space involved (with the exception of the trades section, which will be text only). But I want to be flexible, too. This project is really in its early days, so I’m still figuring a lot out.

If you want to get involved straight away (please do!) then you can shoot me an email (theauthor at inkyblots.com)

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Do You Like Zines? Do You Like Writing About Them?

zine-meme

Ziiiiiiines. To know them is to love them. (At least, I think so.) If you love zines, then I have an opportunity for you.

Zine Nation is a site dedicated to ziiiiines. They post up an assortment of reviews most months as well as conduct interviews with various people in the zine community (even with me!).

Zine Nation is currently looking for an editor to take over the blog and smm for a few months. Does this sound like you? Well then get in contact!

They are @zinenation on Twitter and Zine Nation on Facebook.

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Call for Submissions: Star Wars Essay Zine

starwarsessayzine

We’re looking to compile a zine containing essays about Star Wars! If you have anything sitting around in your drafts folder, like a 10-page saved rant over the internet about why Attack of the Clones IS good, or why Ahsoka Tano should have her own spin-off movie, please send them to us! Essays can be about anything, could be written informally, funny, or seriously, as long as it is Star Wars. Write about the movies or the expanded universe (both legends and reboot timeline)!

We accept any length, but we would like it around 2,000 words. We accept any topic too, including how race/gender/sexuality and other social/political ideals tie with the SW universe.

Once your essay is accepted, you get a physical copy of the zine!

Email your submissions to notyourleo@outlook.com (could be an attached file or in the body of the email)(accepting .doc/.docx/.pdf/.rtf)

New Deadline: 10 April 2017

Please spread the word! Thank you!

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Call for Submissions: Cat & Dog Zine

pawprints

Looking for:
*stories (up to 500 words)
*poems (page in length)
*artwork
*love letters

Topics may include:
-how they came to be in your life
-their therapeutic presence
– how they help ease your anxiety, depression and provide comfort
-the special bond you share
-their unconditional love
-the playful/weird/cute things they do
-if they are a service dog/cat
-if they have a physical disability, mental illness and/or health issues
-do you refer to them as your: pet, baby/child/family, companion, friend/best friend, room mate, healer, etc.
-if you have more than one cat or dog
-anything else you wish to share about them

Contributors will receive a free issue of the zine upon completion.
If interested, email Xyendrarocks44@hotmail.com

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Call for Submissions: True Trans Bike Rebel (Taking the Lane #15)

Taking the Lane #15 is called True Trans Bike Rebel, and we are looking for nonfiction writing about the experience of being transgender and bicycling. Submissions can be essays or reporting about bicycling, or other topics or stories in which bicycles play a part (or other human-powered transportation).

Submissions can be any length; word count between 500 and 2500 words is ideal for this format. Single-color illustrations and photos are also sought. Please submit your work as an attachment or link in an email to elly at taking the lane dot com. The deadline is July 1, 2017.

All contributors will be paid a share of the net profits from the Kickstarter project used to fund the zine.

Taking the Lane is a feminist bicycle zine published since 2010.

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Zine Review: Nora’s New Home

Nora’s New Home
Heidi M
heidimmcdonald.blogspot.com

Nora’s New Home is a very cute mini-zine about Heidi’s new cat, Nora.

I have a soft spot for zines about cats – especially ones with cute illustrations. Taking a peek inside after unfolding it, I think the ink bleedthrough means that these are hand-coloured, too! The art style is very cute.

This zine is very short and sweet, but it did pluck at my heart strings – especially when Nora turned out to be a shy cat. (Definite ‘awww’ moment.)

This is a feel good zine that made me smile, and that’s something I greatly appreciate.