Filed under: Uncategorized
last weekend i cruised around boston a little with my roommate. i’ve never gotten to explore the city much, but there were a few things i’ve always wanted to go check out. one was the papercut zine library in cambridge. if you live in the boston area, or just are visiting, this is a really awesome resource. the space is so packed with zines – it would take forever to work your way through everything they have, or even most of it.
if you don’t live in or around boston, it’s still worth going to see. you’ll feel giddy being in a room full of so many zines, and you can also buy a $2 grab bag of surprise zines. i did, and i ended up with a bag of new treats, all good stuff, more than worth my $2.
there’s some info and a few good resources on their website listed above. i stole this photo from their myspace profile. if you use the space, add ‘em and learn about upcoming events and new resources.
Filed under: print zine reviews
i have a great big stack of zines to read through and then maybe tell you about. so far, i’m so stoked on all of them. but toothworm #2 feels like exactly the kind of zine i needed to read right now, so i am telling you about it first. right from the first page i felt like i could anticipate something that might hit close to home and pull at my heart a little:
“only up to our chins in water do we talk about the hard stuff. letting the warm murky of lake griffy melt those icey hard secrets of the winter. the ones we kept from each other. the ones we kept from ourselves. recanting what feels like a second turn at puberty. a looming fear of our bodies and what they are capable of. ignoring the damage done to our weary hearts. admitting things to others i still had a hard time admitting to myself. pushing to rid myself of blame and doubt. trying to learn to forgive. turning what i knew as ‘hope’ into something more realistic.”
yes! this is the kind of zine i fall right into. little quarter size pages of manual typewriter print, complete with xxed out words and great little sketches scattered everywhere. emmalee writes about places she’s lived, a subject near and dear to my own heart, that feeling of learning to sleep alone again, how we romanticize our lifestyles, 
memories of fishing trips with her father, and so so much more. there are drunken book reviews, sad and clever little drawings, a letter from a friend, and just this overall writing style that makes you feel like you’re sitting bundled up with a close friend talking in that way you talk when you’re not worried about sounding earnest or cynical or whatever else you’re normally worried about sounding like. it’s nice.
i’m not sure about direct contact info – i don’t know if what’s in the zine is current, so i will just tell you that my copy came from learning to leave a paper trail, and you can get one there too if you are interested!
Filed under: print zine reviews
(picture from amber's etsy)
the newest issue of culture slut is seriously such a fun and thoroughly enjoyable zine. it made me want to dig out all of my own old polaroids and relive my past adventures!
visually, the zine is really bright and beautiful! full color! i know that in the world of art zines, full color may not seem entirely unfathomable, but i don’t know if i’ve ever seen a small personal cut and paste zine done in full color, and i have to admit that it’s pretty exciting! the colors in the pictures feel so true to actual-polaroid-life. the light is a little dim sometimes, and everything looks kind of dusty and unreal, which is one of the things i think i love about polaroids in the first place. leafing through the zines really feels like someone is letting you dig through their personal photo stash, and the stories that accompany the pictures feel a lot like the anecdotes someone would share with you while you did that.
the thing about the writing is that there’s a nice sense of restraint. amber doesn’t ramble or tell everything, but through the pictures and the few particular details she uses to explain them, i felt like i was getting exactly the kind information i wanted and needed.
you can get this issue at amber’s etsy shop here! i know amber said she felt like $6 was a bit more than she likes to charge for a zine, but this is the kind of charming and fun and adventurous zine that i like to hang on to and reread once in awhile, and the color printing makes the sixty-two pages of polaroids (and stories) really exceptional. it’s more than worth it, in my opinion! (also she includes another issue of her zine for free – which is so, so nice of her!) i definitely recommend snapping this up, it will make you so excited for summer and road trips and finding surprise graffiti and meeting wonderful new friends.
Filed under: print zine reviews
…and i’m back! hopefully posting with more regularity now. i can’t believe it’s may already!
i got this copy of ciara’s new zine in the mail yesterday, and it was the kind of zine that made me excited about zines again. it’s been a little while since i’ve come across one where after each piece of writing i was torn between writing a long letter about what it made me think about and going on to read the next piece. in the end, i had to sit down and read straight through, and i’m glad i did!
there is so much packed in here that it’s difficult to summarize. ciara writes about the consent movement, radical relationships and monogamy, youth liberation (a piece of writing i especially found really validating, as i sometimes feel a bit outnumbered by all the folks out there who just wanna stay young forever and never change or “grow up”), and abortion, but really, much more than i can just throw out in a neat little list.
one aspect of the zine that i really appreciate (and this is true of love letters to monsters #1 as well) is that ciara writes in a way that is very clear and organized, and you really feel that she’s weighed the issues that she’s writing about carefully. she avoids gross generalization and really acknowledges complexities. this probably sounds simple, but it’s something that has really been wanting in a lot of the zines i’ve read in the last few years.
this issue is also nice visually – a clear layout, some cursive typing, fun little drawings, and hand-colored covers, exactly the kind of personal touch i like to see!
you can get a copy at ciara’s distro, learning to leave a paper trail, for $2. definitely recommended!
Filed under: online resources
it’s a new year, and i promise to post a zine review a week. i’ll keep ‘em coming, don’t worry. things have been a little hectic – holidays, cat illnesses, human illnesses. agh! but things are starting to settle down and i have lots of things i’m excited to share with the zine world.
for now, i found this link today in the lj zine_scene community, and wanted to pass it along.
i’m actually really excited to look through this gallery. i used to love old skate zines, even though i never got any good at skating. i still like the layouts and energy of these, even if it’s just as a spectator.
Filed under: Uncategorized
i always enjoy mae’s zines. her writing has so much energy to it, and there are always wonderful handmade finishing touches – illustrations, hand-colored covers, etc. the copy i received of an undead persona came with a red felt cover with a heart cut into it. little details like that always get my attention, and i was in no way disappointed in what i found inside this little red felt bundle.
in the intro, mae writes that “this issue is about exploration, reevaluation, making connections, and the ability to heal myself.” i think she does this very thoroughly and thoughtfully. she writes about the zine community; the influence of the internet on zine culture, going to the san franciso zine fest in 2007 and more. mae writes about beauty standards and applies them to race, relating her ideas through personal experiences. there’s also some writing about the horror film genre, which i found interesting although, admittedly, i’m generally too afraid to watch horror movies.
different pieces are separated by brief observations from mae’s life, favorite moments, a list of goals, a brief comparison of mae at age sixteen versus now, and more. there is really so much packed into 54 quarter sized pages that it’s hard to even touch on it all! i totally recommend this zine, and any of mae’s other works. this issue is $2 in the us and $3 internationally. you can get it directly from mae at her wonderful zine distro, gimme brains!!!.
(the photo used here is taken from mae’s distro website!)
Filed under: Uncategorized
i recently traded with jane boston for a few issues of her zine, stab heart. i’ve been a fan of her zines for a few years now, and they just get better and better.
one thing that especially stands out to me is how well her zine are always designed and laid out. visually, they’re so lovely. her text and backgrounds are always neat and clean, which sounds simple enough, but it’s amazing how many good zines out there are cluttered and illegible. so many bonus points for neatness and attention to detail here!
content? this issue jumps right in on the first page with writing about education and careers and aspirations and domesticity. jane thoughtfully compares her interests as a child with her values and ideas at present. 
there’s also some writing on holidays and change and growth, as well as some really charming haiku, and one of my favorite constants in stab heart: lists. i just like a nice, neat list, and i can usually expect to find some nice ones jane’s zines. there are also some polaroids and a few pages of fish eye photography, all of which actually photocopied pretty clearly.
stab heart is a really nice balance of documentation and reflection, and i think those elements are what i really like about personal zines. a total win.
this is a nice little quarter-sized zine, and if you wanna get a copy, email janeboston@gmail.com for prices and ordering info!
Filed under: Uncategorized
for almost two years, i’ve been running a small diy zine distro. supporting zines that i think are great has been important to me for as long as i’ve been involved in the zine community. unfortunately, i do not have the time or the means to keep my distro at the level where i would like it to be. i hate to close up shop, especially because i feel that there are fewer lasting distros now than at any other point in the last ten or so years that i’ve been distroing or making zines.
still, i hate to keep a project going if i’m not able to give 100% to it, and so i’m choosing to move in a new direction. instead of trying to just scrape by with my distro, i’ll be using this site to review zines that i read and enjoy (no negative reviews here!) and to provide an up-to-date directory of distros and zine resources. for the time being, this is the best way that i can contribute to the zine community.
i’ll be updating frequently, so check back! and if you’d like to see your zine reviewed, or have your distro listed on this blog, check out the page about how to get involved.
here’s to a new project and new ways of supporting each other!
