Blackguard #3: the Crime Issue

Half the volume of the previous issue, and still more zine that you usually get for $5. I thought this issue was weaker than the last, (but the previous “Father” issue would be a hard act to follow in any case.) Two things I love about this publication are the variety of interpretations of the subject matter, and the personal stories, which give it depth beyond the typical collection of sick/weird comics. At half the size, this issue was expediently less.

$5.00AUSD (within Aust) or $5.00US (World)
PayPal OK to sstratu (at) gmail.com.
(Trades OK too.)

Stuart Stratu
Blackguard
PO Box 93
Paddington NSW 2021
AUSTRALIA

Reviews from Xerography Debt

Rigor Mortis #3 (Sept 2010—the Anger Management Issue)
Inner Swine, Vol 16, issue ½ Summer 2010
Lower East Side Librarian Reading Log 2009
Loose Lips Sink Ships, Feb 2010
Regeneration, #7
Grunted Warning, #1 August 2010
Node Pajomo, Summer 2010
Omitted #1; Muses and Bruises
Lou Reeder (Corina Fastwolf)
You Can't put your Arms around a Memory (Matt Monochrome)
Watch the closing doors #52
Xtratuf, the greenhorn issue #6, 2010
The Girls are Mighty Fine, July 2010

Owlzine #1

from Blackguard

[28 pages, digest size, $?, edited by Anne Mok, owlzine (at) gmail.com ]
[Thanks to Jojo for buying this for me at last weekend's zine fair. Why was this so damn cool? Here's some history, don't worry it's not boring, rather absolutely riveting! See, I was rocking owl PJ pants for our second date slumber party, then we got owl tattoos for our one year anniversary! So you see, this zine is right up my 'owly'.]
A zine about owls? Only one of the awesomest subjects to make a zine about. I'm a total bird nerd, and for me owls are pretty high on the 'cool bird' list. One reason is they look so damn cool, another is that they are nocturnal, unlike just about every other bird. This is also what's frustrating about them since because of this, they are not easy to see. In fact, depressingly I've only ever seen pictures and photographs of them.
Anyway, the zine's got loads of cool owl-related material, like an Owls 101; an excellent piece called 'Owls in Games' by EvilHayama; Peruvian Gourd Owls; collector profiles (Anca from Romania has 166 owls!); a review of the animated Australian film Legend of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole; and finally a couple of owl comics.
This zine is so bitchin', I can't wait for the second issue.

Newcastle Zine Fair October 2010

Small Press of Toronto fall fair: Dec 11, 2010

Introducing Double Feature Press – a new small press with an interesting concept.

Kristy Bowen

Alternative Press Expo's Big Spotlight on Small Press

Small horror presses fill niche gaps left by big publishers

Help your friendly neighborhood hyper-independent, small press bookshop

Newcastle Zine Fair October 2010

Sprak! Vol 2 #6

from Blackguard

[32 pages, digest size, $2.00, Kami, PO Box 278, Edwardstown SA 5039, AUSTRALIA +++ cammy (at) arcom.com.au ]
"Welcome to another beer soaked, cum stained, blood spattered issue of the greatest zine you will ever read while sitting on the toilet." - Kami.
Here's the latest issue of Kami's tribute to the 'six-pack movie', chock full o' grindhouse, s/expolitation, Z-grade, sleazy, trashy gems.
This time around Kami views and reviews: Circle of Iron [1978]; Cockhammer [2009]; The Sinful Dwarf (XXX Version) [1973]; The Erotic Ghost [2001]; Grindhouse Girls of the 70s; Dogs in Space [1986] and many more.
If you remember your teenage years when the deciding factor on renting a movie was whether there was a big 'Banned in Queensland' sticker on the cover, you will LOVE this zine.

Interview 12

Wolfwind Collective is an independent publishing and distribution collective founded by Phillip Hawkey and Rob Jones.

THE FURY #18

from Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti)

THE FURY #18
$4
Mark Novotony
5413 6th ave
Countryside, IL 60525
Thefuryzine@hotmail.com
Hardcore punk zine! Hardcore punk zine! In the tradition of zines like ItS ALIVE, TEN THINGS JESUS WANTS YOU TO KNOW, HeartattaCk, and MAXIMUMROCKNROLL, THE FURY is a breath of fresh air in the oversaturated and aesthetically devoid world of music blogs. The layout is mostly cut & paste and gives it that true DIY feeling and spirit, something I always respond positively to in zines. Interviews with Dez Cadena, 97 Shiki, Antioch Arrow, Bill Daniel, Volcano!, and Nation of Ulysses, and a really informative, in-depth article about Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin that reminded me again of just why I love Abbie Hoffman. I love pictures of bands kicking ass and this zine is full of them. Over the years I have kept nearly every zine I’ve ever received, and I put zines like this into their own special place in my collection. Whenever I need inspiration I will pull out random copies and just thumb through them, simply for that DIY aesthetic which always gets me
active and creative. The FURY is a gift.

The Spirit of Punk: An Interview With Zine Author Bianca Valentino

Yes, BMX zines do still exist

Body Rebel

Body Rebel
pamphlet, 4 pages, $?
A one-shot by Chelsea of Take It - It's My Body zine. Chelsea thought she had said everything that needed to be said about fat acceptance and fat positivity until she had a "relapse" and began to feel down on herself again. She realized then that there was still much more to say. In this zine (laid out like a pamphlet), Chelsea finds renewed passion for body positivity and offers 10 Steps to Body Acceptance. She also discusses how looking back at some of her old zines and journal entries helped her realize how far she's come in accepting herself but also how much further society needs to go in being more accepting of all body sizes. One of the most important statements Chelsea makes is that "determining heath by a number on the scale is dangerous." Yes, it is possible to be fat and fit. People come in all shapes and sizes, so there is not a single standard that fits all. This is an important read for people of any body type. It's about self-acceptance and self-positivity and shrugging off judgements and pre-conceived notions of others. I'm sure Chelsea would be happy to send you one for a small donation or a stamp or even a nice note. queensizerevolution@yahoo.com

BRD SNG

ALLTOPIA ANTHOLOZINE

ALLTOPIA ANTHOLOZINE Harvest 2009, spring 2009 www.alltopia.org

These two zines are collections of short stories, poems, photographs, and drawings from a wide variety of contributors from around the country. I was impressed with the depth of talent involved. The spring 2009 issue’s theme is “Home” and contains stories about just that. The highlight for me was the story “Down Home” by Linda Fielder where she recounts her various trips back home over the years to attend family funerals. Her descriptions of people and place are vivid and engaged without being overly wordy: “Rufus was a giant, copper-colored rooster with only one eye and spurs on his feet the length of my thumb…Rufus didn’t take to strangers, and strange children got him particularly riled. With no kids my age to play with, I had come to think of Rufus as my sort of hillbilly cousin, and we tormented one another mercilessly.” Great story. The antholozine is a great idea, I hope they keep it up.

ONE MONTH

Asexual Feminism Issue #2: Call for Submissions

Zine Reviews by Jolie Noggle

Interview: Maximo Tuja

Interview: Maximo Tuja is a prolific producer living in Barcelona. His titles include Revolucion Juvenil (Youth Revolt), Zine, Alludd:Un Fanzine de Max-o-Matic, Algo Sobre (Something about),and Contenedor.

SHUT UP & LOVE THE RAIN

from Randy Spaghetti

SHUT UP & LOVE THE RAIN
robotearl@gmail.com
$3microcosm
636 SE 11th
Portland, OR 97241

This is a personal exploration of all things queer by Robnoxious. It’s got cartoons about fooling around with body parts and ideas of all sorts. The stories are about his varied and unique perspectives when it comes not just to sexuality but everything else as well. Neither straight nor gay nor bi, Robnoxious simply identifies with queer and goes on to define this in a simple, yet straight forward way. To him the word queer simply means “I am not normal” I like that. This is a well-written and very honest zine that does an excellent job at examining the grey areas of human sexuality and life.

from Midnight Fiction

Symphony in INK! #4

Chase #11

Squint #1

Zeroes! 1-D

It's Dream Time, Snoop Doggy Dogg

Kung Fu Grip! #3

The Curse of the Parsimonious Great Aunt

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/generalarticlesynopsfullart.aspx?csid1=115&csid2=844&fid1=50214

Flemish Eye Unveils Eye Spy Zine with Chad VanGaalen, Women, Devo, Holy Fuck
10/8/2010 By Alex Hudson

In the DIY music world, the blog is king. The folks at Flemish Eye, however, still remember the good old days of the fanzine. The Calgary imprint has announced that it will be releasing a zine, Eye Spy, which will be available at more than 30 record stores across Canada.

A 36-page, full-colour zine, it contains a variety of art and writing from Flemish Eye signings and friends. This includes drawings by Chad VanGaalen, an interview transcript with Women's Patrick Flegel and Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh, illustrations by Clinton St. John, an interview featuring Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh and Black Mold (aka Chad VanGaalen) and much more. The label's official site also lists Ghostkeeper and Julie Fader as contributors.

While the fanzine is an antiquated form, this is a modern take on the concept, as it comes with free downloads of exclusive material. You can get some web-only content right here. In true fanzine form, it's all free.

As for what inspired the zine, a press release from the label says, "Eye Spy is a reward for devoted record store shoppers, the ultimate tip of the hat to those who buy physical music, a much-needed burst of exuberance from the record industry and a celebration of the weird culture of Flemish Eye."

See a list of stores carrying the zine below where you can get a copy free with any purchase. If you won't be able to get to any of the stores, you can get a copy from Flemish Eye's website where the label is including it with orders. There's no official release date, so expect to see this one on the racks at your local record store soon.

Eye Spy locations:

Belleville, ON - Sam the Record Man
Calgary, AB - Sloth
Edmonton, AB - Blackbyrd
Edmonton, AB - Listen
Fredericton, NB - Backstreet Records
Grandby, QC - Grandby
Halifax, NS - Obsolete Records
Hamilton, ON - Cheapies
Hamilton, ON - Dr. Disc
Lethbridge, AB - Blueprint
London,ON - Grooves
Montreal, QC - Phonopolis
Montreal, QC - Cheap Thrills
Montreal, QC - L'Oblique
Ottawa, ON - Compact Music #1
Ottawa, ON - Compact Music #2
Ottawa, ON - The Record Shaap
Ottawa, ON - Vertigo
Ottawa, ON - CD Warehouse (Kanata)
Ottawa, ON - CD Warehouse (Nepean)
Peterborough, ON - Moondance
Peterborough, ON - Bluestreak
Regina, SK - Xray Records
Saint John, NB - Backstreet Records
Saint John's, NL - Fred's Music
Saskatoon, SK - Vinyl Diner
St-Hyacynthe, QC - Frequences
Sudbury, ON - Cosmic Dave's
Toronto, ON - Rotate This
Toronto, ON - Sonic Boom
Toronto, ON - Criminal Records
Toronto, ON - Kops
Toronto, ON - Soundscapes
Vancouver, BC - Red Cat Records
Vancouver, BC - Zulu Records
Vancouver, BC - Audiopile
Vancouver, BC - Neptoon Records
Victoria, BC - Ditch Records
Winnipeg, MB - Into the Music
Winnipeg, MB - Music Trader

Blah Blah Blah vol. 5 issue 10

Blah Blah Blah vol. 5 issue 10

quarter-sized, 8 pages, one stamp

I've been a subscriber of this monthly (previously weekly/biweekly) zine for several years, and I haven't yet tired of receiving it. The content varies, but typically each issue is a snapshot of what ladypajama has been up to lately coupled with her musings, contemplations, and emotional insights. Sketches and other artwork accompany the writing. The art is quite often the very best part. In this issue, ladypajama is at a low point again, trying to get motivated to work on her various ongoing projects. Living on the homecoming parade route used to be exciting; now it's kind of a nuisance. One tactic she is using to force herself to be creative is setting a timer for 30 minutes and then focusing on her work until the timer goes off. The exciting news is that she has the opportunity to teach a short class on journaling which has her declaring, "I think it may change people's lives." Each issue costs one 44 cent stamp. Send her a bunch of stamps to become a subscriber. It's worth it. ladypajama, PO Box 9354, Missoula MT 59807, ladypajama@gmail.com, www.etsy.com/shop/ladypajama

First World Youth Culture Problems To Be Addressed Vol. 5

28 pages, digest size, $2.00, Nick Burns, firstworldyouthproblems (at) gmail.com
During one of the few times at the recent Newcastle zine fair when I took a break from Blackguard *power selling* and walked around checking out other zines, I walked past this wild-looking guy's table, so I had to stop and say hello and find out what he was up to, zine-wise. His table was pretty wild too, totally covered with zines. That was one of the things I said to him, "Holy shit, it looks like you've got half a million zines here!" He said, "Nope! Just seven zines, but they're all folded out to different pages so people can check 'em out better!" Then he started telling me about his zine (since I asked about it) but it was hard to follow since he was talking so fast. He was manic. I liked him immediately. I told him I wrote zine reviews so he gave me a whole bunch, in fact the first five issues of his zine, First World Youth Culture Problems To Be Addressed.
I only had to read this zine for ten seconds before I knew what this zine was: 100% BITCHIN' AWESOME. Articles like 'How 2 Make A Zine' and 'Things You Can Do On The Internet' are funny and informative at the same time. 'How The World Works' offers a penetrating insight into not only our modern world, but the author's complex worldview.
There's no question that The Youth are more powerful and influential than at any time in history (except maybe for the Ancient Egyptians and Romans, who could rule the world as early as age 10), so this excellent zine is perfect for us consigned-to-the-archives, washed-up, burnt-out, over-the-hill has-beens (that is, anybody over 25).

Sex Is Weird

12 pages, digest size, $?, Philip Dearest, wowphilip (at) gmail.com +++ www.boobookittyfuck.deviantart.com
Filth! Disgusting! That's what somebody might shout if you showed 'em this crude little zine, but not me. I never get tired of looking at drawings of pee pees and wee wees, especially when they're connected to such bizarro drawings as these. Naked house-wearing people having sex; scared-looking penis and vagina people; a girl covered in breasts, penises and vaginas; a tree growing out of a woman's anus; and other drawings I won't even try to describe. What does it all mean? Who cares? It sure is some kind of perverse nirvana.

Owlzine #1

[28 pages, digest size, $?, edited by Anne Mok, owlzine (at) gmail.com ]
[Thanks to Jojo for buying this for me at last weekend's zine fair. Why was this so damn cool? Here's some history, don't worry it's not boring, rather absolutely riveting! See, I was rocking owl PJ pants for our second date slumber party, then we got owl tattoos for our one year anniversary! So you see, this zine is right up my 'owly'.]
A zine about owls? Only one of the awesomest subjects to make a zine about. I'm a total bird nerd, and for me owls are pretty high on the 'cool bird' list. One reason is they look so damn cool, another is that they are nocturnal, unlike just about every other bird. This is also what's frustrating about them since because of this, they are not easy to see. In fact, depressingly I've only ever seen pictures and photographs of them.
Anyway, the zine's got loads of cool owl-related material, like an Owls 101; an excellent piece called 'Owls in Games' by EvilHayama; Peruvian Gourd Owls; collector profiles (Anca from Romania has 166 owls!); a review of the animated Australian film Legend of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole; and finally a couple of owl comics.
This zine is so bitchin', I can't wait for the second issue.

Henry & Glenn Forever

rom Randy Spaghetti by noreply@blogger.com (Randy Spaghetti)

Henry & Glenn Forever
Cantankerous Titles
pob 14332
Portland, OR
97293
$6

I’ve seen this thing floating around for a few months now on various websites and in magazines, bookstands, etc. If you are either a Black Flag, Misfits, Samhain, or Danzig fan you can't help but notice it, the cover art draws you in like a guilty moth to the forbidden backyard lightbulb. Recently on a trip to Seattle I had a chance to thumb through a copy at Left Bank Books (Great book store) and found myself giggling, and then looking around to see if anyone was looking at me. This is a very bizarre comic about a love affair between Henry Rollins, Glenn Danzig, and their satanic next door neighbors Daryl Hall and John Oats. Seriously, that’s what it’s about. It’s put together by the Igloo Tornado artist collective in Portland who seem like fun loving, beer drinking folk. I suppose that if the people portrayed in these comics had very, very progressive senses of humor they might think this to be the ultimate tribute to them. I suspect that they don’t and assume that they are pretty pissed off about it all. Did I like the zine? yea, it's quite funny and weird as hell. If someone wrote a comic called Glenn and Randy about Danzig and I, I would laugh my ass off, but then of course I never wrote the song, "Mommy can I go out and kill tonight?".

Showcase #1

from Blackguard

[24 pages, digest size, $6.00 by Dexter Cockburn, dexter-cockburn.livejournal.com +++ thecomixcompany.ecrater.com ]
Every superhero fan loves team-ups. Dexter obviously loves 'em too, but his kind are a little different. It's all about fucking, not fighting, here. X-rated pair-ups abound - Superman and Lois Lane, Superman and Supergirl, The Joker and Oracle, Bane and Batgirl, The Doom Patrol, Wonder Twins, along with a whole bunch more I've never even heard of (Deathstroke?) plus some I can't even figure out what they're supposed to be, like the menage a trois between a Bugs Bunny-looking dude, a poodle girl and a witchy cat girl. Holy shit, it's bizarro world no doubt about it, but they all sure look like they're having fun!
It's all full colour too! Wild.

Rogue Soup & Bug
Neon Girl
My Time Annihilator
Samurai Dreams

Mecha #1

NY ART BOOK FAIR

Printed Matter, Inc. presents

THE NY ART BOOK FAIR November 5–7 at MoMA PS1 Preview: Thursday, November 4, 6-9 p.m. Exhibitor list and programming online now www.nyartbookfair.com

Printed Matter, Inc. and The NY Art Book Fair will take over all three floors of MoMA PS1, November 5-7, to present 275 international presses, booksellers, antiquarians, museums, galleries, and artists from twenty-four countries, exhibiting the very best of contemporary art publishing. The Fair will open with a preview on Thursday, November 4 from 6-9 p.m. Admission to the preview and to the Fair is free. Alongside the Contemporary Artists' Books Conference and The Classroom programming schedules, the NY Art Book Fair will include the special exhibition You Are Her, organized by Goteblüd (San Francisco), a collection of more than one thousand Riot Grrl zines from the '90s for reading and photocopying. The NY Art Book Fair will also include project rooms organized by several publishers. Bedford Press & AA Bookshop (London), in collaboration with artist Joseph Grigely, will present Exhibition Prosthetics, an examination of art, architecture, and the conventions of exhibition production; Andrew Roth (New York) will present Ten Years of PPP Editions, a retrospective of work examining the historical intersections of photography and book art; e-flux (New York) will map a cosmology of texts, ideas, and contributors for its journal; Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI; New York) will present a screening program featuring new and historical video works drawn from its extensive collection; Fillip (Vancouver) will operate a free-distribution center for critical texts from the database of AAAARG.ORG (Los Angeles); PictureBox (Brooklyn) will present a survey that includes work by graphic artist King Terry, imagist Karl Wirsum, and horror-core draftsman Mat Brinkman; and students of Werkplaats Typografie (Arnhem), the Dutch super-school, will establish an alternative economic system for design services. Other exhibitors' projects include: The Netherlands, this year's featured country, presenting public programs, book launches, and project rooms by Kunstverein (Amsterdam), Witte de With (Rotterdam), and Werkplaats Typografie (Arnhem), alongside seventeen other Dutch publishers. Kunstverein and Witte de With will present newly commissioned works by Adam Pendleton and Susanne Kriemann. Hardbacks, by Leidy Churchman, a series of facsimile paintings of books on wood, drawn from the stacks at the Museum of Modern Art Library to trace a unique portrait of artists' publications over the last century Artists & Activists, a diverse group of collectives and individual artists focused on the intersection of art and activism, including Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (Los Angeles), GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand (New York), The Yes Men (New York), Bread and Puppet (Glover, Vermont), and Half Letter Press / Temporary Services (Chicago) Zines by Artists, a lively selection of international zinesters who represent independent publishing at its most innovative and affordable, including The Holster (Brooklyn), Nieves (Zurich), Ooga Booga (Los Angeles), and ZINE'S MATE (Tokyo), alongside a special section of queer zines, including Girls Like Us (Amsterdam), Little Joe (London), Original Plumbing (San Francisco), and PINUPS (Brooklyn) V: POP-UP POP SHOP! (Brooklyn), the fifth edition of j. morrison's screen-printed tote bag and multiple store, featuring work produced on-site by guest artists Limited editions published by Printed Matter, by artists Rachel Harrison, Christian Holstad, William E. Jones, and Misaki Kawai All weekend long, The NY Art Book Fair will host performances, artist talks, and screenings organized by publishers from across the world, including: The Contemporary Artists' Books Conference, featuring a keynote discussion between Richard Hell, Josh Smith, and Christopher Wool. Full conference tickets, which include a newly commissioned book by Emily Roysdon, are now available online (single-session tickets are also available). The Classroom, a series of informal conversations between artists, workshops, and readings, including Brian Belott (presented by f.ART), A.K. Burns & Sophie Mörner's RANDY magazine (presented by Capricious), Sumi Ink Club, and Olaf Nicolai (presented by Motto) Sunday Supplement, featuring Jo Baer in conversation with her son Josh Baer (presented by Roma Publications); Paul Chan reading from his new book, Phaedrus Pron (Badlands Unlimited); Saul Anton in conversation with Boris Groys on Groys's new book, Going Public (e-flux); and an open conversation exploring how print culture is being changed by online publishing, with James Goggin, Jiminie Ha, Rob Giampietro, and Caleb Waldorf (presented by Triple Canopy) Other programs include: Special performance by Norwegian artists Nils Bech & Bendik Giske during the Fair's opening reception, Friday, November 4 from 6-9 p.m. Book signings, including Vince Aletti (Presentation House Gallery); Jo Baer (ROMA Publications); Klaus Kertess (Gregory R. Miller & Co.); Nate Lowman (The Journal); and Dan Torop (A-Jump Books) Musical performances by Excepter, presented by Showpaper; Pablo Picasso, presented by The Journal; and Certain Distinctions, organized by Swill Children, featuring choreography by Angela Vitacolonna, garment design by Mara Sloan, and improvised music by Lucky Dragons, Robert A.A. Lowe (Lichens), Driphouse, and Greg Fox (Liturgy, Teeth Mountain) Visit www.nyartbookfair.com for a complete list of exhibitors and programs.     FAIR HOURS AND LOCATION Printed Matter, Inc. presents THE NY ART BOOK FAIR, November 5-7, 2010 Preview: November 4, 6-9 p.m. MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave. at the intersection of 46th Ave., Long Island City, NY Free and open to the public: Thursday, November 4, 6-9 p.m. Friday & Saturday, November 5 & 6, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. Sunday, November 7, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Printed Matter, Inc. and The NY Art Book Fair thank our generous sponsors for their support of these events:   Printed Matter Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1976 by artists and art workers with the mission to foster the appreciation, dissemination, and understanding of artists'' books and other artists'' publications. Printed Matter, Inc. has received support, in part, through grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City, Department of Cultural Affairs, the Milton & Sally Avery Arts Foundation, The Cowles Charitable Trust, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Schoenstadt Family Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Trust for Mutual Understanding, the Gesso Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary, Arts, the Morris B. and Edith S. Cartin Family Foundation Inc., the Mondriaan Foundation, and individuals worldwide.

living in a dying world #3

LIVING IN A DYING WORLD #3 $2 dan.nowhere@yahoo.com I was reminded of the old anarchist zine Antipathy a lot while reading Living in a dying world. The author, Dan Nowhere has an incredible knack for the descriptive narrative which is punctuated by his heavy use of dialogue. Sometimes the over use of dialogue can kill a story and even seem gimmicky, not the case in this zine. Dan has figured out the equation and knows when to put the breaks on. I really enjoyed reading this zine. The stories are saturated in this odd mix of cynicism and the optimism of a wide-eyed freedom-loving train-hopping tramp. He writes about train hopping and the pitfalls of no-budget travel in a self destructive world with an eye for entertaining detail. Email him today, get a copy.

The Fury

THE FURY #18$4Mark Novotony5413 6th aveCountryside, IL 60525Thefuryzine@hotmail.comHardcore punk zine! Hardcore punk zine! In the tradition of zines like ItS ALIVE, TEN THINGS JESUS WANTS YOU TO KNOW, HeartattaCk, and MAXIMUMROCKNROLL, THE FURY is a breath of fresh air in the oversaturated and aesthetically devoid world of music blogs. The layout is mostly cut & paste and gives it that true DIY feeling and spirit, something I always respond positively to in zines. Interviews with Dez Cadena, 97 Shiki, Antioch Arrow, Bill Daniel, Volcano!, and Nation of Ulysses, and a really informative, in-depth article about Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin that reminded me again of just why I love Abbie Hoffman. I love pictures of bands kicking ass and this zine is full of them. Over the years I have kept nearly every zine I’ve ever received, and I put zines like this into their own special place in my collection. Whenever I need inspiration I will pull out random copies and just thumb through them, simply for that DIY aesthetic which always gets meactive and creative. The FURY is a gift.

Sprak! Vol 2 #6

[32 pages, digest size, $2.00, Kami, PO Box 278, Edwardstown SA 5039, AUSTRALIA +++ cammy (at) arcom.com.au ]
"Welcome to another beer soaked, cum stained, blood spattered issue of the greatest zine you will ever read while sitting on the toilet." - Kami.
Here's the latest issue of Kami's tribute to the 'six-pack movie', chock full o' grindhouse, s/expolitation, Z-grade, sleazy, trashy gems.
This time around Kami views and reviews: Circle of Iron [1978]; Cockhammer [2009]; The Sinful Dwarf (XXX Version) [1973]; The Erotic Ghost [2001]; Grindhouse Girls of the 70s; Dogs in Space [1986] and many more. (There's also a review of Ace Frehley live at HQ, Adelaide (AUSTRALIA) 4 Feb 2010, and a review of Frehley's latest solo album, Anomaly.)
If you remember your teenage years when the deciding factor on renting a movie was whether there was a big 'Banned in Queensland' sticker on the cover, you will LOVE this zine.

Killhope #1

[40 pages, half digest, $? from Rieka, PO Box 386, SINGAPORE 914013]
Rieka is a passenger in a car heading into the city at night. Memories from her school years come to her as she daydreams (or "stones", as her and her friends call it) about a thrilling water polo (with canoes!) match; a chance meeting with a childhood friend who she begins twice-weekly midnight jogs with; how she tried to like jazz music because she found out Ryan Gosling (who she had a big crush on at the time) liked it; then her first job at a Vietnamese restaurant.Nice cut/n/paste layout, easy to read. A little on the 'nice' side for my tastes, of course. (Plus the title is blatantly false advertising.) Nowhere near enough decadence or perversion! Oh well. Maybe next issue.

Absent Cause #4

[84 pages, digest size, $3.00 or trade >>> redguard, PO Box 1568, New York NY 10276, USA + redguard (at) gmail.com + www.absent-cause.org ]
Absent Cause, notes editor redguard, is all about "underground cultures, hidden histories, feminist and queer sexualities, body image, chosen families and radical politics; vampirism, the gothic, horror and the macabre; surviving abuse, coping with mental illness/dangerous gifts, self-harm and suicide." (In other words, some nice, light reading you'll wanna take to the beach this summer.)
This one is the 'Survival' issue.
I love the cover by Jaimie Hashey (Butt Rag Mag), and she also has a story in here, 'Testing', one of the highlights of the zine. Jaimie's got a really urgent, punk rock kind of writing style, and even though some of the crazy fucked up shit she experienced in childhood and teen years is shocking, her cool black humour ensures it never comes across like, "Boo hoo! Didn't I have an awful hard life! *Blub!*."
There's a fascinating piece by Victoria Hall on the history of wife-beating. "On December 18, 1752, the New York Gazette reported that an "odd Sect of People" had been appearing in New Jersey. Calling themselves the Regulars, they dressed in women's clothes, painted their faces and then visited the homes of reported wife-beaters. They stripped the abusive husbands and flogged them with rods, chanting, "Woe to the men that beat their wives." The article also covers some history of martial arts classes for women (and the origin: "In 1969, members of Women's Liberation group Cell 16 began offering Tae Kwan Do classes for women.")
Editor redguard reveals his love of rape/revenge movies, like Ms. 45 and I Spit On Your Grave, then goes on to discuss a rare Swedish example of the genre, Thriller: A Cruel Picture [1974] which was far more extreme than the formerly mentioned US films, since Thriller... included explicit sex scenes.
Elsewhere, we are treated to some bad poetry by Walaa Quisay:
But once by that desolate tree
You said you would always love me.
And some good poetry by Spanky McSparkleton:
I killed myself today,
just to see who cared.
One thing that bugs me about Absent Cause is the editor's frequent mention of "the struggle", "revolutionary actions", "comrades" and all that jazz. Communism? Pol Pot was a communist and he killed at least 1.7 million Cambodians. Only Adolf Hitler (socialism) racked up more kills. So excuse me if all that communist (and socialist) crap leaves me cold. But aside from that, there's definitely some cool shit in redguard's zine.

I'm One Of An Odd Family #3

[12 pages, magazine size, $2.50 edited by Monty Rubera >>> meandmyfamily (at) ymail.com ]
The cover artist is Lee Ann Holland, 16, from Indiana USA, likes art and psychology, favourite music is death metal, favourite artist is Marilyn Manson, her 'tools of the trade' are "everything from Sharpies to nail polish".
I'll be upfront: this music zine fuckin' ROCKS.
First up, two pages of album reviews (all were free downloads). The reviews are not only very entertaining, but I learned some new genres! - digigrind, midigrind, and nintendocore. I love editor Monty Rubera's review of Audioviruses 'Sex Noise' album, describing it as "really awful" and the band as "try-hards. If I was to ask them what they were about they'd probably say something like "we're interested in raw animal power and violence", then they might go on to tell me how they have an academic interest in porn, and how they study De Sade, and how only they are allowed to make noise, cause only they truly understand it..."
Awesome interview with (midigrind rap?) band Tortoiseshell Male. Asked about their origin, Staring Flak MC says, "I used to work in a shopping centre basement doing pest control. It was very similar to the videogame DOOM."
Next up an interview with digigrind/harsh noise band Hentai Cum Dungeon (great name!). HCD's Mike explains their (what I would call) manifesto: lyrics attacking child sexual abuse but in such a convoluted and confronting way as to seem, to some, as pro rather than anti. Half of the the lyrics are edited and parodied versions of articles from the book Sexualized Children : Assessment and Treatment of Sexualized Children and Children Who Molest. (I'll bet that these guys have read Peter Sotos.) (Oh yeah, reading this interview I learned another music genre: ghettotech. ... I am a total nerd for genres, sub-genres and sub-squared-times-infinity-sub-genres, by the way.)
Finally there's a short interview with Danish noise artist Loke Harbek who has collaborated with another artist, Tanja Schlander to make field recordings of her vagina. A "normal condenser microphone with a condom on it" is used. Stranger still, Tanja is seven months pregnant so her unborn child contributes to the recording. Could this fetus be the youngest ever recording artist?
I'm One Of An Odd Family is the ideal music zine. Excellent writing about music and musicians/noisemakers you would never read about in any shitwank mainstream magazine, consistently fascinating, and such great twisted and black humour. It's totally bitchin'.
(I'm gonna order the first two issues right now!)

Opuntia 69.1D

[16 pages, digest size, $3.00 cash, trade, or letter of comment - Dale Speirs, Box 6830, Calgary, Alberta, CANADA T2P 2E7 ]
I have read so many reviews of Dale's Opuntia, in Zine World and Xerography Debt mainly, but elsewhere too. He's one of the most prolific zine publishers out there. He's got a unique classification system ('Speirsian'?). Each issue number is followed by a decimal point then another number - .1 issues are reviewzines, .2 issues are indexes, .3 issues are apazines (at this point feel free to jump over to Wikipedia - I know I did when I first saw this word 'apazines', which wasn't very long ago), and .5 issues are perzines. (Why are there no .4 issues, eh?)
Before I write about the contents of Opuntia 69.1, I've got some personal Dale Speirs anecdotes to share. First of all, since I'd read so much about Dale and his zine, I sent him a Blackguard and asked if he'd be up for a trade. I received a letter back from him saying, "Received Blackguard but it is not my cup of tea (I prefer the real thing.) However, I include some Opuntias as exchange. Regretfully I must decline any future trades, mainly because I'm not interested in comics."
Well, I appreciated his honesty (although I didn't understand what he meant by 'preferring the real thing') and it was cool of him to send me some of his zines. So I read his Opuntias and was initially put off because he seemed to go on and on about the price of gold, and boring financial/economic matters. But first impressions can be deceptive. I read more, and learned that this guy has pretty broad interests, reads widely, and has a pretty sharp yet dry wit. Then, around the same time, another zine publisher I had begun corresponding with had something very amusing to say about Dale - that no matter how many notes he wrote to him, Dale always sent copies of his Opuntias but never any note with them, even though this bloke sent Dale some vital Sherlock Holmes info that Dale used soon after (Dale has a Sherlock Holmes obsession). But! This bloke did eventually receive a note from Dale - letting him know that he'd been spelling his name wrong. Haw!
OK, how about some actual information about Opuntia 69.1D then?
This issue is really fascinating as it covers a book called THE DISAPPEARANCE OF WRITING SYSTEMS [2008] edited by John Baines, John Bennet and Stephen Houston. Dale efficiently and entertainingly summarises this book and covers such writing systems as the Andean nations and their system of knotted cords used to store information; revelatory scripts which are writing systems invented by illiterates who received them in dreams and visions (that mostly occur among peoples being colonized by imperialist nations); oral history, where people remember specific names associated with hunting territories, farms, and pasture, and events with topographical features, which could explain modern ethnic feuds like those in the Balkans; as Dale suggests, a place name that translates as "place where the other tribe stole our chickens 500 years ago."
That review by itself would be worth picking up this zine, but following that there's a substantial and penetrating review of the anthology, Steampunk, edited by Ann and Jeff Vanderneer [2008], then finally letters to the editor. (Dale printed part of my letter to him in this issue, where I commented on a book he reviewed in a previous Opuntia about the history of mail bombs, so I wrote about my experience of receiving a potential mail bomb where I work, in a mail room. A pretty exciting anecdote!)
Opuntia is definitely worth investigating for those of you who are serious about delving deep into the esoteric labyrinths of the rich world of zines.

The Aardvark #2

The Aardvark #2

digest, 28 pages, $1, trades welcome

A zine for book lovers and library fanatics and basically anyone who loves to read words on paper. Convinced that we are in the last days of the printed word, Art Vark offers his desperate plea for folks to pry their eyes away from the screen and stick their face in a book. Mr. Vark's points are pretty persuasive, however, for those who have fully embraced the digital age and don't see the loss of the printed word as a problem, this zine is probably going to seem like an idealist's nostalgic whine-fest. I'm not saying that I see it that way, I'm just saying that there are folks out there who just won't get it. Regardless, I highly recommend giving this zine a read. It's a well-written, well-intentioned, quality publication. The introduction's theme of "follow your bliss" is very compelling. The discussion of bookless libraries is quite interesting and thought-provoking. A piece entitled "Words to Live By" is intelligent and easy to relate to. Several pages of zine reviews are also included. Get yourself a copy and read a few words on paper for a change. Red Roach Press, PO Box 771, College Park MD 20740, USA - www.manualpubs.com

Uncomfortable & Suicide Notes

Uncomfortable
(digest, 8 pages, $?)
Suicide Notes
(digest, 16 pages, $?)
Two short poetry zines by Laura-Marie. While I'm typically not too excited about poetry, Laura-Marie's poetry has really grown on me over the years and I quite enjoy reading it. I think you will, too. These poems tell stories, offer snapshots, and convey emotions in a very simple and straight-forward way. Laura-Marie has a remarkable ability to say so much in so few words. The poems in Uncomfortable are loosely based on some uncomfortable situations that Laura-Marie has found herself in. The poems in Suicide Notes mostly seem to be about painful and heart-wrenching memories. Seriously, if you haven't read any of Laura-Marie's words yet, you really should. robotmad@gmail.com www.dangerouscompassions.blogspot.com