The Holocene Tragedy

The Holocene Tragedy

by JD Howse

Dead Elk publishing 

A5, 66 pages, cardboard covers. 

3rd edition, September 2016. Limited edition of 50.  

£2.50

The Holocene Tragedy is an utterly compelling account of the mass extinction of animal species created and accelerated by mankind. Within the last century at least one species has become extinct every year, that we know of. 

I think the internet is probably bad for me, & and bad for anyone with a mind as obsessive as mine
because the information acts in spirals & lines & if I followed every weird impulse my mind gives off down the rabbit hole I'd never get anything done

So begins the search for facts among the vast resource of misinformation called the internet. JD Howse grapples with what it means to be informed when you are not a specialist in a given field, how you can comprehend the vastness of something when reduced to a series of webpages, and when - not if - man will face its own extinction. 

Part poetry, part prose - it is a collection of short texts that is very much of our time. Definitely among the best zines I've read this year. Get your hands and mind on a copy before it is too late.

Visit http://www.jdhowse.com/holocene for more information about The Holocene Tragedy, contact information for JD Howse can be found here: http://www.jdhowse.com/about

Review by Nathan Penlington 

Cute

Cute
20 pages, digest
Accepts trades, PCP, records, cigarettes, switchblades, etc.
(I say send him a couple bucks to cover the postage.)


This one is a collaboration between Fishspit (of Wiseblood zine,) and Serena "Aika" Pruess, (of Cooncat Creations.) Art, collage, and prose. It's primarily about pets, but there's also something about an encounter with a furry hippo, (either fiction or hallucination,) and also a piece about cute girls in school and how he got the name Fishspit.

Aika does anthropomorphized animal cartoons, or "furries." Fishspit does awesome collage work, and writes stuff that you can never really tell how much is autobiographical, how much is fiction, and how much is delusion. He goes off the reservation in a way that few could get away with, but it works for him. He's never boring.

Fishspit
1304 175th PL.  NE,
Bellevue WA 98008

also check out

Aika
aikacooncat.blogspot.com
cooncatcreations@hotmail.com


review by Jack Cheiky
This zine is being donated to the Cleveland Zine Library after review.

Exscind #1

Exscind #1
36 pages, digest
Limited edition of 100
High quality, slick pages, heavy stock cover
$6 delivered, ($4 media mail)

Adel Souto puts together here a compilation of his work, writing and art, from various eras of his life. Some is previously published, much of it not.

First off, this print version is one of those few that get filed under,  "best value zine publication you'll find anywhere, ever." The only thing I didn't care for about the production was the unattached clear acetate sleeve over the regular cover, (acetate has title in black, card stock has colorful art.) Keeping it all together quickly became a pain in the ass and I discarded it.

The art, primarily photography, ranges from good to great.

The writing is nothing less that polished and professional. How much I liked it varied. The poetry goes in one eye and out the other. There is some whimsical commentary that I find a little trite, (especially when you consider the overall caliber of this writer,) and can only think of as "filler."

However, the bulk of the prose is exceptional. The very best is when Adel writes about himself and his life. There are also bits he does that aren't autobiographical but are written with an almost academic focus. He is intelligent and well read, especially in history.

What ties this all together in a bow is that he's a complex individual with a dark side and plenty of questionable history. Piecing together his intellect, knowledge , criminality, homelessness, and superimposing it over the high quality art he is presenting is fascinating and compelling.

In his attempt to present a cross section of his work he completely succeeds. This is someone to keep an eye on.

Contact to order
adelsouto@adelsouto.com
www.adelsouto.com


review by Jack Cheiky
This zine is being donated to the Cleveland Zine Library after review.

Dog Stories / Kalamazoo

By Martin Winch

Remember how yesterday I said I'd be reviewing some stuff I'd had for ages and ages and never gotten around to reading? Well here's exhibit A: two sampler zines that I picked up at the Portland Zine Symposium in 2009. That was almost two years ago!

I think I avoided reviewing these because I didn't think either of them was worth a full review. I still don't, however that is handily cured by reviewing them both in the one post. Progress!

Both zines start the same way, with a strangely defensive page telling you how you can get a hold of the full version sof these zines. Even from just reading that I kind of got a vibe that I wouldn't really enjoy these stories.

And I was right.

Dog Stories features a terrible story about some dude being really sexist and one told from a dog's point of view about how horrible it is that their owner won't let them shit everywhere and have sex with everything. Not my thing.

Kalamazoo (yes, it's a real place) features stories of gorwing up in the late '70s and early '80s in Michigan. Characters drink Bud, smoke cigarettes, drive shitty cars, and listen to shitty music. None of which I have any interest in reading about whatsover. (Well, there was half a paragraph about exploring sewers, but that's not a whole zine.)

It's hard to even judge whether these stories are well written, because the content and the style are so completely "not my thing". If you're into Americana they might be worth checking out.



(This review was originally published on 365 Zines a Year.)