I am still waiting on a few submissions to come in, so if you want to write something for this zine, please do! If you can get it in before the end of the weekend, that would be awesome!
– Nyx
Call for Submissions: Cat & Dog Zine
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
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.
Zine Review: What I Have Lost
What I Have Lost
Keely O’Brien
www.kissmego.etsy.com
I seem to be reading a lot of zines lately that have ‘on the nose’ titles. Keely O’Brien’s ‘What I Have Lost’ is a mini-zine of past things gone… sacrificed unwillingly to the universe.
I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but there is something about the fact that Keely includes something stolen that I really appreciate. Maybe it’s the reminder that sometimes losing things and people are completely out of our control? Something for me to ponder.
Not only that; there is another step taken in the wishes for these things that are now gone. Like hoping that the person who found the green iPod was inspired to become a total hipster…
Aesthetically, this zine is lovely. The bright blue saddle stitching is a small but pretty contrast to the black and white of the zine itself. The cover as well as the internals are all cardstock quality. Keely is a talented artists, and the way the sketches cross over from one page to another, encompassing the whole ‘spread’, adds to the flow of reading it.
Handwriting can be a gamble when it comes to zines. Just because you can read it doesn’t mean other people again. Lucky for we zine readers, Keely’s handwriting is clear and yet whimsical in the way the art surrounding the words in. They make a perfect match, and I find myself grateful that Keely decided to do things this way.
This is one of those zines that, even if I’ve read it plenty, I’ll still go back to enjoy the art.
Zine Review: Queer Content #4 – An Essay on W.H. Auden’s ‘Another Time’
Queer Content #4 – An Essay on W.H. Auden’s ‘Another Time’
Wolfram-J VK
Social Media: @QueerContent
I’ve had this zine for a little while now, but I wanted to make sure to save it until I had the proper amount of time (slow reader, here) and space to really take this one in. Plus, I was a little worried that it would all go over my head…
The title really says it in that Queer Content #4 features an essay on W.H. Auden’s ‘Another Time’ along with an introduction from Wolfram in regards to the creation of this essay and why it’s important. I did find it a bit amusing that I was so intimidated by an essay – and one featuring poetry, no less – only to read:
Now I’ve never been great at academia, alright? This isn’t going to be a top-notch essay that will convince you of anything (I certainly didn’t get a good mark for it).
But the important part – and what this zine is all about – is what comes next:
What I’d like you to consider is how denying homosexuality a positive identity within a text – particularly when that text is written by a queer writer and/or intended for queer readers – can have a negative impact on both your interpretation of the text and the visibility of queer folk everywhere.
This is definitely a text-heavy zine with a lot to think about. Honestly, even from the first page, some things went over my head. However, when Wolfram gently but unmistakenly called out the lecturer (dayum!) who glossed over the subject of Auden’s homosexuality at the start, I knew I had to keep going.
As I said, some of it went over my head. Even so, Wolfram’s writing in and of itself is easy to understand and gave me a lot of small nuggets of information to ponder. Things that I simply don’t encounter in my life experience. The poems Wolfram decided to include along with the essay added to the essay very well. They were beautifully sad in such a wistful way.
I really want to share the last paragraph of an essay because it’s sad and beautiful in the same way that the poems included in this zine are, but alas, that would be like giving away spoilers. No one likes spoilers.
I appreciated the bibliography. You might think ‘it’s an essay – of course there’s a bibliography’. However, it would have been easy to leave it out. However, not only is its inclusion a way to find further reading but also says that just because it’s a zine doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of respect and form.
In the end, I think the essay did what it set out to accomplish. I found myself being frustrated along with Wolfram at the denial of such a huge part of one’s identity can be damaging both within a life as well as within historical context. I felt like this essay was, at least in part, Wolfram’s way of ‘taking back’ Auden’s homosexuality and putting it back within the proper context of his poetry and identity.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Blair at The Shameful Sheep posted up some fun questions, and I thought they’d be fun to post here. This is absolutely and completely unrelated to zines – I’m sorry if that annoys you. The way I figure it, you need to switch things up sometimes, so here we go.
So what I’m going to do is post the questions Blair posted and then add a few of my own. You can answer them in the comments OR you can switch things up at your blog by posting all the questions and adding few of your own. Keep the randomness going. 🙂
Here we go (the first four are Blair’s questions and the last two are mine):
You’re stranded in the middle of nowhere with the cast of Friends. You can’t find any food, so your only way to survive is to turn into a cannibal. Which two do you eat first, and why?
1. Ross. He’s whiny and not at all funny. 2. Monica. I know she can cook, but I feel like she’d go bonkers in the middle of dirty, dirty nowhere.
If you had to pick a theme song or movie that best represents your life, what would it be?
When I was younger, I would have said ‘And So It Goes’ by Billy Joel, but I really don’t know now. Can I pick an instrumental? If yes, then it’s Rhapsody in Blue.
What did you eat for dinner last night?
Corn on the cob (giving up sugar has actually made that taste decent – who knew?), zucchini, mushrooms, bacon, sweet potato, and a sausage.
Do you have a favorite blog post that you wrote and want to share? Post the link!
I still love Your Zine Is Awesome – Stop the Negative Self-Talk
If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Calories don’t count, you can’t gain/lose weight by eating this thing.)
Salmon sashimi.
If you could do whatever you wanted to do for the rest of your life and be guaranteed a livable income (actual, not government determined), what would you do?
What I’m doing here on SGZ. Seriously. It’s that blasted need for money to get by that leads me away from this place.
Enjoy! Please link below if you’ve put this on your blog.
Happy Mail – RAK Edition
This week, I feel very… grateful. I am always grateful for people taking the time and postage to send me things, but this week, I am especially so.
I’ve been struggling a lot with a depression for a little while now. I’ve been good about staying positive while there has been so much chaos and strain in my personal life, but eventually I just shattered. It all became too much, and I went into that foggy, tired place that claims my mind sometimes.
So when I rocked up to my post box this morning and found this inside, I was at a complete loss as to what it could be.
Someone, I don’t know who, sent me this gorgeous papercrafted envelope, well wishes for Asimov, and a sachet of chai.
And on the inside…
Along with my love for zines, I also have a love for stationery and planner type items. I also really love chai, too, which should give me some clue as to who it is, but I’m stumped.
All I know is that this beautiful gesture means so much more than I can adequately express right now. It makes my heart happy.
I don’t know who you are or if you’ll even see this post, but I want to say thank you nonetheless. Your timing is perfect, to say the least, and I will be sure to pass the RAK spirit on.
Call for Submissions: PCOS Stories
*****
Call for Zine Submissions: Hello My Name Is Vol 2
MissMuffcake is putting out another issue of Hello My Name Is zine – a zine that they started to end stigma associated with mental illness and those that have it. They did not plan on doing an issue #2 but after such a warm response at EBABZ on issue 1, they are doing another issue.
What they are looking for: a selfie of you and you to fill in these blanks Hello my name is and I have ______mental illness____ but that _____offer up something positive____.
Example: Hello my name is Kendy, I have OCD/anxiety but that does not stop me from being an awesome cat mom.
Keep it short and sweet. Please send in your photo and completed mini story by Jan 30 2017. The email is missmuffcake{a}aol.com. Each contributor gets a copy of course.
Zine Review: Imaginary Homework
Imaginary Homework
Theo Ellsworth
www.thoughtcloudfactory.com
This zine is another offering from the Zine O Matic pack that arrived on Aussie shores a couple months back.
Imaginary Homework is a comic zine filled with imaginary homework assignments and actually started out as a real homework assignment for students of a workshop back in 2009. While ‘homework’ would seem to put a damper on anything, this zine goes to show that it can actually be pretty cool and amazing. (At least, when it’s imaginary.)
Each page has an imaginary assignment for you. From imagining interactions with the creatures pictured to contemplating metaphoricals like “Suppose you could have all of the answers right now…”
There’s something about the art in this zine that really draws me in. I think it’s all the complexity and little lines used to create each illustration. (Take a closer look at the cover as well as the picture above.) Each assignment is paired with an illustration that goes with the assigned task but also does even more to encourage the imagination of the reader.
I find myself actually wanting to do some of these ‘assignments’. Far out.
I think this is definitely a zine to keep and one that I will be reading again more than once.