Xerography Debt Reviews

Anne Reviews In Waves

via Xerography Debt by noreply@blogger.com (motes) on 9/8/09

To start, quick reviews of zines I got in trade (so I guess trades would be okay?)

BREAKFAST #5
Half size, $3
c/o Vincent Voelz,
575 12th Ave #3,
San Francisco, CA 94118;
vvoelz@gmail.com, http://www.breakfastzine.com/

A new favorite for me (and very well might be for you). It's fall here in New England, and that means cider doughnuts, and the timing of this zine in my mailbox could not have been better. This issue's loaded with donuts—"new insights into donut phylogeny" graces the cover – but there's other food goodies in there, from Hawaiian cuisine to a guest piece by Gianni Simone about funky New Year's eats in Japan. But man oh man do I want to go to Voodoo Doughnuts something fierce now.

The Ken Chronicles #12
Digest size, $2
Ken Bausert,
2140 Erma Drive,
East Meadow, NY 11554-1120;
passscribe@aol.com; http://thekenbausertchronicles.blogspot.com/
Described pretty accurately elsewhere here (has everyone else been reading this longer than I have?) as a slice-of-life zine, I enjoyed reading though the back issues I was sent. Straightforward, funny and well-written, worth your time & money.

...and the first wave of what surprised me in my mailbox this time:

THE INDIFFERENCE OF PLACES (Summer 2009)
by Carolee Gilligan Wheeler
6 ¼ x 7 1/2, 52 pp., $4 US/ $5 world, no trades
PO Box 19706
Stanford, CA 94309
carolee@superdilettante.com
http://www.superdilettante.com/

Described as "Prague, regret, anticipating, letdown, Berlin, loneliness, heartsickness, jet lag, travel, running away" this zine is oddly haunting and heartsick. It stayed with me long after I'd finished reading it, not only because it presents such a muted view of Prague and I'd just started planning a trip to Prague when I read it, but because the composition is so visually evocative and beautiful even when Wheeler's writing about being miserable: "with my eyes and mind I can see how stunning and impressive Prague is, but my heart is cold" she writes, and she's so stark about this chill that you begin to feel it as well. It's not a cheery read, but it's beautifully produced and I am so totally a sucker for pretty handwriting. (I am, however, inspired to make my own Prague zine if I go…!)

LADY CHURCHILL'S ROSEBUD WRISTLET (#24)
(half-legal?), 60 pp. $5, no trades (but a host of subscription options; check out the website)Small Beer Press
150 Pleasant St. #306
Easthampton MA 01027
http://www.smallbeerpress.com/
info@lcrw.net

I've only recently become something of a fan of LCRW; it's a literary magazine with beautiful production values; impeccable layout and the guts of the thing are good too: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, a comic by Abby Denson, and quirky spot illos by Anna Sears. It's made me want to start reading new short fiction again, and I'm always really excited when it appears in my mailbox because it's never hit a wrong note with me. Lovely as ever (and congrats to Gavin & Kelly on their best reason to miss a deadline!)

PERMANENT INK (#11, Summer 2008)
5 ½ x 6 ½, 36 pp. $?, trades? (print run of 500?)
PureInjoyment Press
www.flickr.com/dystova
diovaone@yahoo.com

Near as I can tell, this zine's about photos of graffiti. There's some prose text and some cut & paste zine aciton, but for the most part this zine reproduces graffiti art. Kind of interesting, kind of weird, might be your thing. Covers look hand-screened, which is a nice touch.