Saturday 28 January 2012

Zine News Round Up: 28.01.12

http://thesebodiesareengines.tumblr.com/post/14306352378/d


1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events
3. Submission Calls
4. Distro News
5. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
 - Fanzine Ynfytyn #18 is out now!  Buy a copy at Emma Jane Falconer’s website. (Read my review of Fanzine Ynfytyn #17 here)
 - Journeyman #4, a zine  featuring photographs taken with a selection of toy cameras.  Sold at Lulu.com.
 - Perzine Cat’s Teeth #10: Mother of Otherness is out now.  More info can be found on the author’s We Make Zines page.

2. Upcoming Events
 - Girls Get Busy 1st Birthday Party: 31st January, 9pm onwards at The Alibi, London.  Riot Grrrl karaoke, with a free party bag for everyone who participates!  More info here.
- Bristol Radical Zine Fest: 12th February, 12 til 6pm at Kebele Community, Co-Op.  The first stalls have now been confirmed, and there are very limited places left, so apply now! http://bristolradicalzinefest.wordpress.com/
 - Loosely Bound Zine Extravaganza: 24th March at 1 Tyrell Street, Bradford.  The collective are looking for stallholders for the event - Please email your expression of interest and a link to your website to looselybound@hotmail.com  by Monday 12th March.

3. Submission Calls
 - The Swansea Women’s Centre, a women’s refuge and campaign group in Wales, are holding a workshop day for International Women’s Day. One of the rooms at the centre will be turned into a feminist art gallery for the day, and we’re looking for all kinds of artwork to feature in our gallery!  More details can be found at the Swansea Feminist Network website.
 - Zinester Sophie Sherwood is looking for love letters for a project she’s working on. All submissions will be anonymous.  Email her for more info on We Make Zines.
 - London-based artzine Playerist is looking for “all styles of words and images on the theme of artifice”.  Email slidelAThotmail.co.uk for more info.

4. Distro News
 - Marching Stars is on hiatus for a few weeks. Lizzy is looking for new zines to stock in the distro – if you have any zines that you’d like Marching Stars to stock, or if you want her to stock your zine, get in touch at distroATmarchingstars.co.uk.
 - All orders made at Vampire Sushi distro  before the end of January will get a free poster! Only a few days left!
 - Princesa Pirata’s Kissing Behind the Barricades 2012 calendars are now half price! Buy yours before they sell out: http://princesapiratadistro.wordpress.com/postcards-etc/
 - Loads of new zines have been added to Pushpin Publishing’s catalogue! Take a look here: http://www.pushpinzines.co.uk/collections/new

5. AOB
 - Someone made a Shit Zinesters Say video (e.g. “Hey do you take trades? I made this 6 hours before the zine fest, it kinda sucks”)!  Although not all the statements are universally relatable, it’s quite funny on the whole:


Sunday 22 January 2012

Zine Reviews: January '12

Split Peaches #1: The Zine
Split Peaches (feminist collective) – lola-roseATriseup.net
Split Peaches is a “women’s and trans people health collective” based in Leeds, and their first zine features writings that represent what the collective is all about.  The zine opens with a description of what Split Peaches is, and why they chose to only remain open to women and trans people.  The rest of the zine focuses mostly on health, with articles on self-examination, eating disorders, “chub rub”, the mental health benefits of being child-free, how to get pregnant, effective methods of contraception, and a map of the cervix.  There are also some feministy articles that avoid the subject of health, including a discussion of the relationship between women and bicycles, a passionate rant against the gender binary, and growing old disgracefully.  Each article is detailed and lucid, and the layouts vary from plain and functional, to messy cut-and-paste, to pretty and dainty. This zine reminded me a little of Reassess Your Weapons (the zine created by feminist group Manifesta), as it looks and feels very similar.  A very good read!


Kerb Crawled: Reacting to Street Harassment
This zine, as explained on the cover, was created at Bradford Zine Fayre 2010 and the Brighton Zine Festival 2011, following workshops on experiences of sexual harassment.  I found this zine funny and entertaining, handling the difficult subject matter with humour and sharp mockery of the curb crawlers and their enablers.  The zine is almost entirely hand-drawn and hand-written, with each contributor focusing on a different aspect of street harassment.  We read definitions of curb crawling, personal stories of harassment, critiques of victim-blaming adverts that tell women how to avoid harassment, examples of the obscene language curb crawlers use, and some ideas they have heard on how to avoid getting hassled by someone (including picking your nose)!  Read it for free here.


Black Ski Mask #1
Max Mallender, Yorkshire - blackskimaskATliveDOTcom
Described as “the visual ramblings of a university drop-out”, Black Ski Mask consists of full-colour photographs, some of which are captioned, of the author’s life.  Such things photographed include picking locks, smoking weed, climbing trees, partying, exploring, and vandalising; combined, they tell an interesting story about the author's life.  There’s also a nice poem inside.  As someone who enjoys something to read in a zine, I have to be honest and admit that I didn’t get much from Black Ski Mask.  However, I will say that it’s among the better photo zines I’ve read, mostly due to the high quality and interesting subject matter of the photographs.  Some of them are very good indeed, both in terms of quality and concept.  A very well-designed zine, if you’re a fan of photography and art.


Fanzine Ynfytyn #17
Emma Jane Falconer, Kent – www.emmajanefalconer.com
Fanzine Ynfytyn is a short and sweet perzine filled with lists, pretty backgrounds, and heart-warming stories.  In the 17th issue, we read about Emma’s mother’s cats, and Emma’s quest to get hold of a working Mr. Frosty.  This issue is packed FULL of lists – these include things Emma is bad at, things that annoy her, and small pleasures.  At 22 pages, it’s a quick, cheerful read.


Inc. magazine #4
Edited by Will Coldwell and Anya Pearson – www.inc-zine.blogspot.com
This isn’t the kind of zine I usually go for, but I was tempted by the awesome cover and the concept.  The zine features two chains, each one alternating between poets and illustrators, “charting an unpredictable journey as ideas get reused, recycled, and downright corrupted”.  I would have to say that this is one of only three poetry zines I’ve ever enjoyed – usually zine poetry is poorly-written (from an outsider’s perspective, at least), but the poetry in Inc was great.  The illustrations were excellent too.  It has quite a personal touch, for a comp-zine – each copy is hand-numbered, stamped, and sealed.  I would recommend this zine to those of you who enjoy poetry, illustrations, and conceptual art.


Financially Hard Times #8: December ‘11
A short, monthly zine which takes a scathing look at pop culture.  Filled with Tom’s awesome illustrations, this issue features Greg Wallace from Masterchef, Clegg & Cameron, David Miliband, and an imagining of the House of Commons Christmas party.  A quick read, FHT is irreverent and funny – I only wish it was longer and wordier!  Subcribe for a discounted rate here.







(Next Sunday is International Internet Free Day, so Spill the Zines will be posting its fortnightly news round-up a day early, on Saturday 28th!) 

Sunday 15 January 2012

Zine News Round Up: 15.01.12

via GirlsGetBusyZine.tumblr.com


1. Zine Releases
2. Upcoming Events
3. Submission Calls
4. Distro News
5. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
 - We Heart Lisa Simpson is now available!  A zine dedicated to a “feminist icon”.  More info here!
 - Disregarded London, a zine filled with
photographic mixed media images of forgotten spaces in LondonMore info on etsy.
 - Sky Nash has released two new zines this month: My Phone Hates Me #2, and The Mallades.  More info about both can be found at Sky’s etsy shop.
 - Miles Better: A Guide To Glasgow, is a guide to Marceline’s favourite places in Glasgow.  Buy a copy on etsy.
 - Black Sunday #2, a metal/horror zine, is out now! Get your copy here.
 - Theodore Knuckle #1, a comic zine about a lonely midnight DJ!  For more info, or to buy a copy, visit Hannah’s Folksy store.

2. Upcoming Events
 - Girls Get Busy 1st Birthday Party: 31st January 2012, 9pm onwards at The Alibi, London.  Riot Grrrl karaoke, with a free party bag for everyone who participates!  More info here.
- Bristol Radical Zine Fest: 12th February 2012, 12 til 6pm at Kebele Community, Co-Op. Want to apply for a table? Email bristolradicalzinefestATgmail.com with a bit about who you are and what you’ll be selling before 8th January 2012.

3. Submission Calls
 - Tiny Doodles zine is looking for people to submit a page of doodles for its second issue.  Any topic is welcome.  More info can be found here.
 - Brown Paper Bundles is a website dedicated to distributing 2D art for free to the general public. Submit your art work by sending an email to thechickencoopATlive.co.uk.

4. Distro News
 - Marching Stars has had a big update,  with new zines in stock!  If you order over 12 zines in January, get 20% off your entire order!  www.marchingstars.co.uk
- Princesa Pirata has nine new zines in the distro! http://princesapiratadistro.wordpress.com/about-2/
- Vampire Sushi has a nice new layout, and every order in the month of January gets a free vampire sushi poster! www.vampiresushi.co.uk

5. AOB
 - Sarah Tea Rex has turned her zine, I Am Not The Rain (a zine about life after childhood sexual abuse)
 into a video story that can be viewed online for free.  I highly recommend giving it a watch, though some may find it upsetting or triggering.