Introduction

       

        I found myself trying to do too much at once when I was working on the last issue. The most horrifying aspect was realizing I had not only omitted a set of reviews by new reviewer Anne Thalheimer, who I was very happy to have had join us, but I also misspelled several names in the issue. Names I can ordinary spell no less!

        So when this issue's contributor deadline came around and I was hit by the one-two-three punch of a trip to Ann Arbor for work, the annual trip Patrick and I take, followed by two weeks of flu misery and lethargy, I decided to embrace change instead of melting under pressure again. For the last several years Xerography Debt has adhered to a consistent schedule with issues going to the printer at the end of February, June, and October. February and June were tough for me last year because of the annual trip and a huge trade show I attend for my job in June.

        So instead of making myself crazy to meet the February deadline I have decided to roll everything forward a month. Hopefully this means I remember all the reviews, spell names right, and generally keep the haphazardness at bay.

        I hope you enjoy the issue!

 

Davida Gypsy Breier

March 2005

 

Basic stuff you should know

 

        If this is your first issue, XEROGRAPHY DEBT is a review zine for zine readers by zine writers. It is a hybrid of review zine and personal zine. Xerography Debt has its own freestyle approach. It is all about communication, so each reviewer has used the format or style most comfortable to him or her. Also, each reviewer "owns" the zine in a communal sense. We are individual artists and writers coming together to collaborate and help keep small press flourishing.

        Do your part by ordering a few zines from the many reviewed here and, if you self-publish, please consider including  some reviews in your zine.

        Xerography Debt’s reviews are selective. To explain the “system”: Some reviewers choose to review zines they have bought or traded with, some review zines that are sent to Xerography Debt for review, and some do both. Also, I buy zines at Atomic Books (my local zine store), as well as zine events, so if you see your zine reviewed and you didn’t send it in, that might be where I found it. Generally the only reviews you will read in here are “good reviews.” Constructive criticism is given, but basically we don’t have the time or money to print bad reviews. If you sent your zine in for review and don’t see it listed, wait a few months and see if it appears in the following issue. I read and then distribute the zines to the reviewers about two months before the print date. If the reviewer passed on reviewing your zine, it will be sent out again for the next issue. So, each zine gets two shots with two different reviewers. Ultimately, many of the review copies stay in the XD archives, but some are donated to zine libraries. Occasionally mistakes happen, postal or otherwise, so if you have a question about a zine you sent in for review, please contact Davida at PO Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078 or davida@leekinginc.com.

        XD is available for free online (some reviews and artwork will only be available in print) or paper copies can be ordered for $3.

        If you have an event, announcement, or project you would like to share, please get in touch.

        The lack of paid advertising within these pages is deliberate. Despite reviewing our friends and lovers, we try to be somewhat objective and free to do as we please. Needless to say, this brings up the point of needing some help to keep the machine running...

 

Sponsors

 

We see Xerography Debt as the PBS of review zines. It is by us, for us, with no financial incentive - just a dedication to small press. If you have a few spare stamps or dollar bills to help support us and the zine community, it would be most appreciated. Also, let me know if you wish to remain anonymous. This issue’s sponsors are:

 

Darlene Veverka, Asha Anderson, A.j. Michel, Jeannie McStay, Julie Dorn, Mrs. Drizin, Tracy Pickle, Bobby Tran Dale, Donny Smith, Gianni Simone, DB Pedlar, Christopher Robin, Blair Ewing, Delaine Derry Green, Anne Thalheimer, Fred Wright, Kris & Lola, Brooke Young and the Salt Lake City Zine Library, and several anonymous benefactors.

 

Announcements

 

SUBMISSIONS WANTED

 

Pouèt-cafëe

“To publish in Pouèt-cafëe, send us two copies of your typed, previously unpublished creations (poems, short stories, creative non-fiction, articles and essays, photos, drawings and collages, comix, etc.) along with a short bio-bibliography (up to 35 words) and your complete contact information. Please note that we do not accept simultaneous submissions, or e-mail submissions. Submitting up to 10 literary or visual pieces will increase your chances of seeing one of them chosen; full manuscripts and portfolios are more than welcome. The authors and illustrators whose work is selected will be notified in the month following the deadline. Please include a SASE or an IRC so we can notify you and return your work. Contributors are paid in copies and receive three copies of the issue their work appears in. Copyright remains with the authors. We look forward to discovering your work!”

Send your submissions by regular mail only to:

Pouèt-cafëe, Christine Douville, editor

6595 St. Hubert, P.O. Box 59019

Montreal, QC, H2S 3P5Canada

 

Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore!

The deadline for the upcoming seventh issue of the best-selling Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! is March 28th, 2005. Send your Baltimore-related tales, poetry, photographs or artwork to wpt@eightstonepress.com, and you, too, can be a part of the zine Baltimore City Paper calls “surprisingly fascinating, consistently absurd, and often weird as hell.”

They also named it “Best Zine” in their annual “Best of Baltimore” issue (http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=8891)...Which gives them an entire year to sober up.

Spread the word...

William P. Tandy, Editor

Eight-Stone Press

P.O. Box 963, Havre de Grace, MD 21078

http://www.eightstonepress.com

wpt@eightstonepress.com

 

Journal Project

Do you keep a journal?  Have you ever read someone else’s?  Do you have any secret stories to tell?  Send your diary-inspired tales to Julie Dorn, PO Box 438, Avondale Estates, GA 30002 (or junieingeorgia@hotmail.com) by April 1, 2005.

Exhibitions and Events

 

Spot On: The Art of Zines and Graphic Novels

“Are you a zine or graphic novel artist? Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA) is looking for artwork to include in its exhibition “Spot On: The Art of Zines and Graphic Novels.” Whether it¹s text, layout, imagery, pages, cover art, or posters, or whole publications, we¹re interested in featuring your work. Send submissions, with a SASE for their return, to MCBA, attn: Spot On, 1011 Washington Ave., Minneapolis MN  55415. Work will be reviewed and a selection of works showing the diversity of this creative art form will be included in the show. Entries must be received by March 19, 2005. All submissions must include the artist¹s name, address and phone number on the back or some portion of the work. No jurying will be done from slides. Please indicate any special exhibition requirements (for example, can the work be handled, can it be pinned up, should it be encased, etc.). A SASE must be included if you want your work returned. While staff will take excellent care of your artwork, MCBA cannot be held responsible for damage or loss due to circumstances beyond our control.”

 

CALL FOR VENDORS

 

        As part of Spot On, MCBA will be hosting a Zine and Graphic Novel Trade Fair Saturday and Sunday, June 11 and 12, 2005. If you are interested in renting space to sell associated wares, call Jeff Rathermel at (612) 215-2526 to reserve a space. Table rental pricing starts at $25.

        For more information, please contact Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Ave., Minneapolis MN 55415; www.mnbookarts.org

 

PRISONER WARNING

 

Reprinted with permission from Jerianne at Zine World:

        Zinesters, take note: We have reason to believe that prisoner Douglas S. Dahl, who has been contacting female zine publishers, is not on the level.

        Zine World recently received this letter from prisoner Douglas S. Dahl (Ed. note: I received the same letter.): “I was interested in obtaining your resource material because ... I am very concerned about the obsession of American women and body hair removal, be it shaving, laser, electrolysis or other method - Americans seem to have become completely obsessed with the removal of body hair. I find this to be very disturbing. In my communications with Shannon Colebank of Whizzbanger Productions in Portland, Ore. - Shannon feels the same as I do. Shannon feels it is American males wanting women to appear “child-like” and hairless to obtain power over them. Men are not scared of children and when women become hairless they also become child-like and less threatening to men. I was hoping to use your resource material to contact women who are natural, unshaven to obtain their viewpoints, thoughts, feelings about this subject. I pity the woman who is born hirsute in this environment who feels like some sort of “freak” because she has abundant body hair.”

        “The Americans seem freaked out should any hair escape the confines of a swimsuit and heaven forbid that a woman doesn’t shave under her arms. I hope that you are mature enough and realize that I am only doing research and not offended by this letter. If you could provide some possible leads so I could gather information, I would greatly appreciate it. -Douglas S. Dahl #4424482, 82911 Beach Access Rd., Umatilla OR 97882-9419”

        Not long after, we received another letter - from Shannon Colebank, a long-time zine publisher who we believe, through our history of correspondence, to be a trustworthy individual: “I would like to point out that there is a prisoner involved in the zine scene, Douglas Dahl, who presents himself as a feminist to those he writes to, by telling you that he heard of you from me, and that, as inspired by the best feminist zine ever written (Flashpoint #2), he decided that he will make a feminist statement concerning how ridiculous it is that women shave. He soon asks for a picture of you, especially if you do not shave. It is my opinion that he wants these photos to beat off to while he is in prison. He seems rather sexist in the letters he has written to me (stating that when he gets out of prison he wants to “go to Brazil where women treat men right, unlike the women in America”) and is definitely into porn.

        If you get a letter from Douglas Dahl telling you that you should trust him because he is a feminist like Shannon and that Flashpoint #2 was great, watch your step. I have had two zine girls write to me telling me that Douglas Dahl had sent them creepy letters; he got their addresses from The Whizzbanger Guide. I do not vouch for Douglas Dahl. He is not a friend of mine, nor do I believe he is a feminist. -Shannon Colebank, Whizzbanger Productions, PO Box 5591, Portland OR 97228”

        “We believe Shannon. If you receive correspondence from Douglas Dahl, we recommend proceeding with caution. Be warned.”

Jerianne

Zine World editor and publisher

PO Box 330156, Murfreesboro TN 37133

www.undergroundpress.org

 

NEW ADDRESSES

 

Received from Ben Steckler:

I’m just spreading the word to folks who regularly send stuff to me at my POB. That post office has closed, and it will be some time until they get another office open in my end of town, so all mail should be sent to me at:

Ben T. Steckler

957 Richwill Drive

York, PA 17404

 

Received from Rick Bradford:

NEW contact info:

Rick Bradford

PO Box 343

Bedford, TX 76095

ricko@poopsheetfoundation.com

http://poopsheet.blogspot.com

 

Columns

Mail Art

The Joys and Pains of Organizing a Mail Art Project

 

By Gianni Simone

3-3-23 Nagatsuta

Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi

226-0027 Kanagawa-ken JAPAN

 

In last issue’s column, while trying to explain what this strange beast called mail art is, I wrote that after all mail artists and zine makers have more than one point in common. To name but one, many of us strive to build a network of contacts with whom to share friendship, ideas and good vibes, at the same time bypassing those institutions (public agencies, corporate media, art galleries, etc.) that want to control and dumb down our values. That’s why, by the way, many mail artists, including me, prefer to call what they do networking. I don’t know what all you fellow zinesters think, but to me the best part in doing what I do consists in working on a project, collaborating with like-minded people toward a common goal, be it a zine or an exhibition. Doing it all by myself seems to be pointless, even considering that most of the time the typical “publisher” ends up with a few roughly-done pages that relatively few people will read. Well, if you like the idea of feeling part of something bigger and more meaningful, you may want to try your hand at organizing a mail art project. Be warned, though, that if properly done, a mail art project takes a lot of time, energy AND money (unless you want to keep it very small) and could be the source of more than one headache. This said, it can also be – and usually is – an exciting and rewarding experience.

The first thing you have to do is to make up your mind about what you really want to achieve. You can do something really big, spread the word about it like mad and end up with hundreds of works. Or you can do something more simple and intimate. Also, you have to decide why you are doing this. You can show all the works sent in (in which case, of course, you have to find a venue for your exhibition) or you can just produce a zine-catalog to document the project. In other words, it can be as big or as small as you want (if you bother to have a look at Xerography Debt #15, you will find to cases in point illustrating the big vs. small approach). But – sorry if I repeat myself, but it’s very important - remember that a big project is pretty much expensive, so my advice is to start with something smaller, unless you are a group of people who can share in the work and money needed to pull it off.

After that, you have to decide some other important things: 1) a theme; 2) the size of the works you want to receive; 3) a deadline by which people have to send their contributions.

The theme you choose should be, of course, the main reason why you do a project. It can really be whatever you like; as serious (politics, human rights, etc.) or silly (Hello Kitty) or weird (art about feet) as you want. Pornography or such topics as racism, sexism, etc. are usually not welcome, but nobody would stop you from doing something like that – even though I doubt you would receive a lot of feedback, apart from hate mail… My advice is to choose something you really care for, and about which you hopefully have your own opinion, because the participants love to read/see what the organizer has to say about the subject (this, by the way, is unfortunately missing in too many documentations).

The size of the works can be free, but I find it’s always better to put some limitations, otherwise you’ll end up with strangely shaped or huge contributions. This is not a bad thing in itself – indeed, it can be a lot of fun to find this stuff in your mail box, or see the puzzled face of the postman who carried it to your door – but can be a problem when you plan the exhibition, or when it’s time to reproduce the works in the catalog. Anyway, the most commonly chosen sizes are (up to) A4 (11” x 8 1/2” in US; 29 x 21 cm in Europe), A5 (8 1/2” x 5 1/2”in US; 21 x 15 cm in Europe) or postcard size.

The deadline must be chosen carefully, especially if you are going to show the works somewhere. First of all, you have to give people the possibility to know about your project and plan their participation. It’s never a good thing to put the deadline too early. In my opinion, you should let at least six months pass from the time you start spreading your invitations. Not few people make that one full year. Also, many mail artists like to participate to a lot of projects, but at the same time are busy people who have a life outside networking, so they probably won’t start working on the contribution to your project as soon as they see your call. For the same reason, several participants invariably send their contribution after the deadline has expired. Therefore you can’t put the opening of the exhibition too close to the deadline. At the very least, you should put one month between the two dates.

Now that you have decided these details, you can actually start the planning process. The first thing to do, of course, is to make and spread the calls. The four main tools you can use are flyers, zines, the e-mail and Web sites. If you have many correspondents, you can make a lot of flyers (postcard size is enough) and send them out. A good idea is to send a certain number to each contact and ask them to distribute them with their mail. The same thing of course can be done even more quickly and cheaply via e-mail, even though the mass of messages one gets electronically is often so great that many people regard even these invitations as SPAMs. This way, your call is soon deleted and forgotten. Zines are in theory an excellent way to reach a lot of people with a minimum effort – even though, for my experience, not many zine readers contribute to these projects. The only publication I know that has a space for these calls is “Zine World”. On the contrary, if you want to be sure to reach as many people (especially as many mail artists) as possible, your best bet is to place your call in the Web sites devoted to mail art. For better or for worse, nowadays these are the most sought sources of information, particularly by people who are looking for new projects to contribute to. Depending on the site, you either have to send them an e-mail with the text of your call, or you just do everything yourself, by filling out a form provided by the site.

Having completed this task, you only have to sit back and wait for the works to come in. As I said, don’t worry if at first you only get a handful of contributions, because most of them will probably arrive in the last couple of months before the deadline. In any case, if you are planning an exhibition, you better catalog the works as soon as they come in. This way, you can always keep an eye on the way things are progressing, and at the end, you’ll find yourself with the address list ready.

Speaking of the address list, we have now reached the last part of the project. After receiving, it’s now time to give back – in the form of a documentation – and it’s very important that you do this right, because you will be judged by what the participants get for their effort. The unwritten rules of mail art state that the contributors give away their works for free and don’t expect the organizer(s) to send them back, but they do expect to get something in return. That means you will have to send a copy of whatever you produce as documentation to each and every one of them. If, for example, you have opted for a big project and have received 400 works, you have to send out 400 copies of your doc. Considering that more than half of the participants will probably be foreigners, you are going to spend a lot of money in photocopies and postage. That’s why, as I said before, your two best options are a) to do something not so big, or b) to do it with other people.

If you have a Web site, you may decide to put all the works received online and consider that your documentation. For obvious reasons, more and more people decide to proceed this way, but you can be sure that many - if not most  – participants will not be happy with your choice. Personally, I never contribute to these projects.

Another increasingly popular support used these days is the CD-Rom. This one has the great advantage that you can put hundreds of works in the CD, and the mail artist get to see all the contributions in full color. On the downside, not all the participants may have a computer, and I know for sure that not few people (including me) hate to read or look at things on a computer screen. Of course even in this case you are going to spend a lot in postage.

The last and most traditional option you have is the paper catalog/zine. This is by far the most expensive, even though you don’t have to produce a thick publication to satisfy the contributors. Every mail artist and zine maker perfectly understand that most people are not rich and don’t want to see you go bankrupt. For this reason, you don’t have to reproduce all the works in a paper doc, and of course you can do everything in black and white (you may hand-color parts of it, if you have the time and energy for that). What everybody usually includes is the above-mentioned address list of all the participants, and then you are highly recommended to add an introduction/comment on the project. All the rest is an optional. Anyway, whatever form you choose to give to your doc, it’s always better to be honest and declare your intentions clearly in your invitation.

There are no time limits to produce and send out the doc. Only the more efficient mail artists manage to do everything soon. I often get catalogs one full year after the end of the projects. As a general rule, it’s always better to take your time and do something you can be proud of than to rush things and do a crappy job.

Before starting to work on your theme, you may want to participate to someone else’s project, so that you can see how other people actually work. You can find the mail art calls in the following places (by checking these sites, you will also have the opportunity to see how other people wrote their invitations):

www.dragonflydream.com

www.crosses.net/mailartforum

www.boek861.com

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nottwo/~Text/mailartcalls2.htm

Good luck with your projects!

 

Gianni Simone also publishes KAIRAN, which is devoted to the discussion of mail art-related topics. Issue #9, among other things, features a mammoth index to mail art and (visual) poetry zines (more than 100 publications listed). Available for $4.00 postpaid worldwide from 3-3-23 Nagatsuta, Midori-ku, Yokohama-shi, 226-0027 Kanagawa-ken, Japan

 

The History of Zines:

The Five-Year Half-Life of Neofans

 

by Don Fitch

fitchdons@aol.com

 

As part of the History of Zines series, XEROGRAPHY DEBT has been interviewing long-time zinesters. The following comments by Don Fitch were extracted by Donny Smith from various emails. The first question was, “Do you know anyone who’s been doing a zine since before you were born?”

 

        How about a firm /“/m/a/y/b/e/”/ “I don’t think so”?

        Late in 2004 about thirty people (most vaguely associated with Science-Fiction fandom fanzines) will be congregating in Bloomington, Illinois, to help Bob (Wilson) Tucker celebrate his 90th birthday, but I think he didn’t start publishing until the early or mid-1930s, when I was a few years old.

        If I understand correctly, Joe Gudonis started publishing a small Amateur Journalism (AJ)/Letterpress fandom zine in 1928 (several months before I was born), but I’ve heard nothing from or about Joe in the past three or four years, and his health was failing rapidly then (to the extent that he was no longer able to set small type and dictated a zine to one of his children or grandchildren to produce via computer and xerocopy). His paper (the word commonly used in AJ for all publications unless perfect-bound) was The Lost Chord. Not especially memorable or noteworthy—pleasant humor & rather lame jokes on the Readers’ Digest level, or maybe a bit more old-fashioned than that. Nice guy, not an exciting or inspiring publication—which is about how I’d describe at least 90% of the AJ papers.

        The short of it is that I seem to have outlived them all. I won’t add “sigh” to that because I still get a lot of fun out of life and am glad to be here, but— — And sometimes that’s terribly poignant. I learned, just yesterday, of the sudden death last week, from a heart attack, of Greg Shaw, who was only 55.

        Greg started publishing a zine when he was about 15 years old—a hyper-energetic, hyper-enthusiastic, extremely intelligent, well-read, thoughtful, idea-filled, and idealistic kid, both highly talented and a good person (the two qualities aren’t always associated). I have to admit that I don’t remember whether his first zine was Metanoia or Who Put the Bomp, but I think Bomp came later in his circa 6-year fanzine-publishing phase, as he grew increasingly interested in the new popular music form known as “rock.” It’s a mark of something or other that I always enjoyed Greg’s zines immensely even when he was writing about a topic that held little intrinsic interest for me. (Much the same could be said about Rog Ebert’s Stymie, a wretched-looking hectographed zine published in only two issues before Rog got caught up by college life & an obsession with movies.)

        Exceptional though he was as a person, Greg’s fanpublishing (and fan) career was not unusual—a lot of people have done it over the decades (and, I suppose, centuries). Starting young, being extremely active and improving rapidly over a period of about five or six years, then going on to something else—finding another challenging mountain to climb, as it were—and dropping out of contact almost entirely with the old gang.

        What Greg did was move to Hollywood, start up a small independent record company—Bomp Records—specializing in what I think he called “garage rock” and similar DIY-based music, and generally indulge in his passion for promoting this art form. I hope (and bet) that he had a rich and rewarding life, but am still sad about it being cut so short.

        That corresponds almost precisely with my (and others’) observations, experiences, and historical reading in the Science-Fiction fanzine publishing microcosm from about 1930 until the late ’70s (when there started to be a lot of newcomers to fandom who were strongly TV/movie-oriented & much less into activities such as writing). This microcosm was much smaller and more tightly-knit than zinedom—I doubt that there were ever more than 300 people actively publishing (i.e., at least one issue per year, though four was more common) at any given time. If you didn’t know all of them, you knew at least several people who knew any you didn’t.

        The stereotypical Neofan (“new fan”—typically middle-class, white, male) was about 16 years old (as young as 13 was a bit remarkable, but not especially rare), sufficiently shy & introverted to spend the first year quietly figuring out what the score was, then spent three or four years publishing/writing, then was more than 50% likely to either burn out suddenly or gradually fade away in the course of about a year. “The five-year half-life of Neofans” was the way we put it. The usual reasons seemed to be (in no particular order): discovering sex ... the opposite sex, that is ... well... usually; concentrating on college or career-building; deciding “I’m Grown Up now, have become a different person, and will put the things of my childhood/youth behind me”; or reaching the highest status they could in this meritocracy and finding some other challenging mountain to climb. Of the remaining 50%, about half would drop out after approximately another five years, for some of the same reasons. Then there’d be another significant exodus at about the 15-year mark. Anyone who hangs in that long is likely to remain more-or-less permanently. I can think, offhand, of only about five people who started publishing in their early teens who are or were still active in their 80s or 90s.

        I happened to discover Amateur Publishing at the age of thirty (let’s not go into “chronological age” and “delayed adolescence,” okay?), looked around carefully with the benefit of some worldly experience, and decided that—for better or for worse—I belonged in some segment of it. The locales have changed—I’ve read and written more for & about zines than fanzines the past few years—and the quantity of production has varied greatly, but the basic decision still seems to be solid. Most people’s teen years (and sometimes early 20s) are a time of exploration and investigation, with lots of activities being tried (often wildly on random speculation or impulse), then dropped when they seem to turn out to be insufficiently rewarding or to be All Used Up. Older people (even if by only a few years) tend to be more cautious (or maybe just more stubborn after they’ve made a decision) and have a better idea of what they’re getting into, so they’re more likely to stick.

 

—Don Fitch,

who is also—as an exercise in pure selfishness—sad in some ways when any good zine publisher, writer, or artist moves entirely away from the microcosm and ceases to contribute to making our life richer.

FitchDonS@aol.com

 

 

IT MEANS IT’S WANK

 

By Jeff Somers

P.O. Box 3024, Hoboken NJ 07030

mreditor@innerswine.com

www.innerswine.com

 

“So what does that mean? It means it’s wank.”- Vic Flange, www.fleshmouth.co.uk [now defunct], describing my zine.

 

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

 

...in which your intrepid wanky columnist seeks an answer to the burning question: Is there such a thing as too many reviews?

 

        I’m a busy, busy man. Between holding down the day job, keeping up with enough boozing to stave off the shakes without descending into Prestone-guzzling delirium, and making the celebrity party scene on a regular basis, I barely have time to produce my zine, much less do any sort of quality control. Most of my days are blurs, either pleasant or unpleasant, crammed full of activity. It’s little wonder, then, that the mailing list for my zine is one of the most neglected aspects of my whole operation—once you get on my mailing list, chances are you will always be on my mailing list, forever and ever. I just never seem to have the time to adjust it—I barely summon the energy to print out the damn labels from it every few months. The only time it gets attention is when someone actually asks to be taken off, or when I get a returned issue. Waste $1.06 on you once, shame on you for moving without giving notice. Waste $1.06 on you twice, and that’s half a beer I could have bought.

        As a result, there are addresses on there from the beginning of time. Most of the addresses that have never been cleaned off belong to review sources—magazines that, back in the misty beginnings of my zine, seemed like good places to send TIS for a review. As long as those publications haven’t gone out of business—heck, as long as one lone survivor of the zine bubble still maintains the PO Box—they’re gonna get a copy of my zine. The really amazing thing is, some of these publications still review my zine. Maybe not every single issue, but pretty frequently. There are a couple of places that have probably reviewed my zine fifteen or twenty times. Maximumrocknroll, for example, has reviewed my zine at least fifteen times.

        Now, I am renowned throughout zinedom as a humble, unassuming guy who would kill his loved ones and small, cute animals in exchange for his name in print. So the fact that some publications have reviewed my zine dozens of times is delightful, and not something I’d complain about—but it does make me wonder when the law of diminishing returns means these reviews become largely meaningless.

        Most publications have a personality, of sorts. The people involved with it give it a flavor, a collective mentality. With the smaller zines, this is usually one or two people doing all the zine reviews, but even in a larger publication you tend to get a definable voice out of the mix, a cohesive attitude. After getting a bunch of reviews from one source, I start to wonder if there’s really any value in getting more reviews from that source—not value to me, of course, as anything with my name in it, even a police summons, is valuable to me—but value to the objective reader seeking opinions of my zine.

        The problem is that the reviews from a single source are pretty uniform. They say basically the same things with minor variations (sort of like my zine, but that’s a subject for another column). This, of course, is wonderful if what they’re saying is that I am a Golden God of Zines and deserve all your cash, love, and strength in service to me. It’s slightly less wonderful if the reviews boil down to “Somers sucks” and there are twenty-three of them. After a while you know how that particular publication just doesn’t dig your action, or loves you to pieces—you can predict what they’re going to say about my zine with a disturbing amount of accuracy. This could be because my zine is depressingly predictable in its subject matter and level of entertainment, but really I think it’s simple: If you hated it last month, you’re gonna hate it this month, and vice versa. There’re diminishing returns here, I think.

        There is, of course, the slight possibility that an aberrant review will prove to have value—that after a long string of monochromatic reviews, one will suddenly appear that is radically different, indicating that maybe the particular issue being reviewed is special, somehow (especially bad, or especially good). I’d argue that the time and patience required for this to be possible isn’t worth the reward. I mean, if it takes three years of scanning similar reviews to find that one that suddenly makes the needle jump in one direction or the other, have you really gained anything? Aside from an encyclopedic knowledge of reviews that grant you a Rain Man-like ability to tell me the contents of every issue of my zine, even issues I’ve forgotten existed, even issues I wish everyone would forget existed, I don’t think so. After a certain point—which I will now arbitrarily decide, via my god-like power as a columnist for Xerography Debt,  is five reviews—the sameness of the reviews blurs into useless cacophony.

        Of course I’m going to just keep sending my issues out to anyplace that’ll review ‘em, because I am wallpapering my bedroom with every mention of my name in print, ever. And maybe there’s a point where there are so many reviews of my zine out there that it won’t matter any more what they say, individually, because I’ll have reached the level of a meme, worming my way into everyone’s brain and taking root, causing irritation, madness, and much suffering. Now that I think about it, I wonder if that wasn’t my actual purpose, all those years ago when I first published my zine, forgotten over the years as a result of heroic alcohol abuse.

        I suppose I ought to be grateful that anyone has ever considered my zine to be worthy of a review, but I cannot help this massive brain and the constant, searching thoughts it sends up the dumbwaiter, demanding investigation and answer. Also, the Xerography Debt folks would kick my ass if I failed to come up with a column as ordered, and I am frail and easily broken due to the aforementioned heroic alcohol abuse. Pray for me.

 

The Reviews

Donny Smith

915 W Second St

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.geocities.com/dwanzine

dwanzine@hotmail.com

 

I’m still working in Terre Haute, and Miriam and I are still working on the Library Urinal. (You can send us your library anecdotes or your library philosophications.) I still put out an occasional issue of my zine DWAN too. And I’m thinking of getting another master’s degree—in Turkish studies! (You can never have too much schooling, right?)

 

Deliciosa #9 (June 2004)

available from Elizabeth (no mailing address) for $3; deeelish77@yahoo.com

on the cover: a Los Angeles hamburger-burrito-taco-teriyaki stand with a billboard of a bra-clad woman on the roof

inside: lotsa photos of L.A.; personal essays on memories of childhood, old loves, visiting L.A., loving it, and leaving New England to live there; “nearly all the stories here are things that really happened, but sometimes there are make-believe parts thrown in.”

quote: the older you get the more you have to guard your heart. if you live in los angeles you always have to guard your heart. i am sitting on a dirty, rained-on couch in my apartment building’s parking lot and i’m afraid someone will come up behind me and read all my secrets and i won’t catch them till it’s too late. thank god my handwriting is so atrocious; probably no one would be able to make out a word of it.

overall: It was hard to pick just one quote from the zine, there were so many good ones. And I wish you could see all the great photos of billboards, graffiti, and cityscapes. Clear-headed, emotional writing.

 

Fag School #1 (2004?)

available from Brontez, 2846 Chapman St, Oakland CA 94601 USA for $3; bulletproofslug@hotmail.com

inside: an interview with Alvin Orloff, author of Gutter Boys; sarcastic photo essay “The Life of a Totally FAB GO-GO BOY! … can be yours!”; an advice column with Allison Wolfe of Bratmobile; half of an interview with the band the Husbands (one of the rare band interviews that’s entertaining to read); a 4-page home-made fotonovela-style porno spread called “Young ’n’ Hung”; reviews of books, comics, music, videos, porn, and sex pick-ups

quote: Three years ago, when I was a young and tender punk rock boy, this EMO SHITHEAD made me make out to Pedro the Lion AND he gave me crabs (twice!)! Recently, I was drunk off my ass and showed up to his house and did a striptease for him in Batman undies. I knocked over a HUGE fuckin stack of his gross CDs and made fun of his faggot-ass “internet dating” (fucking DORK!). Before I could even get my pants on, he kicked me out! Oh Allison, did I compromise my worth? —Emo Ho’s Suck [You’ll have to buy FAG SCHOOL to find out Allison’s wise wise answer.]

overall: A flashback to the Golden Age of Queerzines! Sassy and slutty (slassy, as my honey would say). A little short on content for a $3 zine (large type, lotsa background collage), but I’m sure issue 2 will rectify that.

note: You’ll probably want to include an age statement when ordering this.

 

Ghost Pine Fanzine #7 (October 2003)

available from Jeff Miller, 114 Canter Blvd, Nepean ON K2G-2M7 CANADA for $2

cover title: Blood

on the cover: an old photo of a family in front of a log cabin (“1913 Frank Gervais Family[:] Frank, Mary, Réjeanne and Claire”)

inside: five stories that meander all over Jeff’s life and the lives of his family, from a lake in the middle of a forest fire in the north woods to an icebreaker in Hudson Bay, railroad tracks in the middle of Alberta, a parking lot in Ottawa …

quote: When the fire subsided, all that was left of their home and bakery was the horse stable out back. Her father did not believe in insurance, as it interfered with the hand of god, and the almighty’s perfect plan for the world. And so poor old Nelly, the horse that saved Memere’s life, lost her home. The stables were cleaned out, the floors scrubbed and the walls white-washed, and the ungrateful Gervais family moved in.

overall: It’s hard to tell what’s fiction and what’s memoir here. I suspect that the better-written parts are memoir. Of course most of it’s pretty well-written, so I’ve read it all as memoir. (I like perzines better than litzines anyway.) Well worth $2 (U.S. or Canadian)!

 

The Lamb shall peacefully dwell with the Lion: growing up in the worldwide church of god, a cult (May 2004)

available from Sabrina, 9804 Cardinal, La Porte TX 77571 USA for $1 ($2 world); email before trading; sabby_darling@hotmail.com

inside: A personal look at a splinter group of the Church of God (itself a splinter of the Adventists) as it splinters further, some members sticking with the founder’s eccentric vision, while others move toward mainstream evangelicalism—all the while wrenching a young girl whose whole life was the church. Descriptions of their holy days, hymns, and youth groups.

quote: I had endured a lot of teasing because of this religion, and now they were changing everything, and I couldn’t get those years back. I had lost some of my best friends, some adults I really respected, and the stability that only the Church had provided me my entire life. So my heart was closed to any more changes. I was not interested in God, because it seemed to me, He didn’t care what happened to me. So fuck him (little h as a sign of disrespect at the time), was my thought at the time.

overall: Fascinating—I want more!

 

Last Laugh / Quiet days in Saint-Denis #4 (2005)

available from Bill Blackolive & Lisa B. Falour, 1776 N McCampbell, Aransas Pass TX 78336 USA for $5 (no trades)

note: I have to admit, I haven’t read this yet. It’s always such a huge, demanding zine. Paging through, I notice I’m mentioned a few times (I always have to look for that first). But I think it’s safe to stand by my review of issue 1 from XD14: “like a long, long, long letter from two old messed-up friends”.

 

The many strange desires of Mreh (2004)

available from Karen Sneider (no mailing address) for $3;

http://www.metromonster.com/

on the cover: two humans pet, scratch, or rub Mreh (who is flocked in bright green)

inside: many one-panel comics featuring Mreh, a two-fanged, dog-eared monster with a jaded expression

overall: worthy of the New Yorker! (I mean that in a good way)

 

MONOBRAIN HEAD HUNTER deel 2 (2002?)

available from Marc van Elburg, P/O Box 68, 7700 AB, Dedemsvaart NETHERLANDS; no price ($1? or 1€? or trade?); http://www.xs4all.nl/~tellab/

inside: page after page of pop-eyed monsters, in a variety of drawing styles

overall: chaotic, obsessive (occasionally delicate)

 

ODDBALL INDIANA: A GUIDE TO SOME REALLY STRANGE PLACES by Jerome Pohlen (2002)

available from an independent bookstore near you for $13.95; Chicago Review Press: http://www.ipgbook.com/

note: Not a zine, but a book by a zinester. The series also includes Oddball Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. (Thanks, Davida!)

inside: directions to and information about Dan Quayle’s frat house, the world’s largest sycamore stump, the Museum of All Sorts of Stuff, the site of John Dillinger’s first crime, and more! (He even finds a few interesting things in Terre Haute.)

 

ONE WEEK’S WORTH OF HATE AND ANGER (2001)

available from Hank Thigpen, PO Box 3411, Tallahassee FL 32315-3411 USA for $2 (or trade?); xeroxrevdistro@yahoo.com

inside: Rants from April 4, 5, 7, 8 & 10, 2001, on the Internet, infighting, anger, aging, revolution dreams, folk singers, trust fund kids, TV, beer, the word bastard, gay sexism, and of course being a trannyboi punk in Florida. Also a recipe for wheat paste.

quote: Every time we get dangerous, big business tries to slip in there and steal our souls. But I know the difference between my clothes and my beliefs. Some kids can never see past hair dye and pyramid studs. Some realize that all the flash is just so we can identify each other and piss off the upperclass (can you even believe it still works?).

overall: rockin’

 

Pony club #1 (2004)

available from David Youngblood c/o Popzero (no mailing address) for $3; popzero@hotmail.com

on the cover: a bird gagging on a mouthful of worms in three-color printing

inside: three cartoon stories, the best one the story of a boy, a talking bird, and a worm who won’t keep its secret knowledge to itself; also features a drawing of a hoatzin, with a vulture commenting, “Purty”

overall: sweet and creepy

PRISON MUSIC II (2004)

available from Megan MacCullen, PO Box 142, Lorane OR 97451 USA for $2

to write to the editor directly: John Adams 768543, Route 1 Box 150, Tennessee Colony TX 75861 USA (do not write PRISON MUSIC on the envelope)

on the cover: a screaming prisoner clutches at the bars of a barcode, superimposed on a burning map of Texas, superimposed on a U.S. flag

inside: drawings and articles on prison life, and as John says, “because I’m feeling brave … a couple of essays from when I was an actual human being”

quote: He has no idea who came to see him, but like most prisoners, it doesn’t matter. Could be his mother or sibling, it might even be a hated in-law, who cares? The fact is, someone cares enough to wade through a septic tank of self important prison bureaucrats

 

Dan Taylor

PO Box 5531, Lutherville, MD 21094

www.hungovergourmet.com

editor@hungovergourmet.com

 

Dan Taylor is the editor of The Hungover Gourmet: The Journal of Food, Drink, Travel and Fun and is now regarded as some kind of expert on how to survive the morning after. Look for him in an upcoming issue of Real Simple. Seriously. If you’d rather just read about junk food, recipes, restaurants and other related nonsense, check out www.hungovergourmet.com or write him care of PO Box 5531, Lutherville, MD 21094-5531.

 

        Years ago, National Lampoon had an occasional feature about OC and Stiggs, two ill-tempered, foul-mouthed miscreants. After a series of hit-or-miss shorts, the pair were the subject of an issue-length article – ‘The Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of OC and Stiggs’ – that borders on sheer brilliance and remains a cherished possession. Naturally, Hollywood handed the material over to Robert Altman (yes, that Robert Altman) who watered it down to the point where it bears little resemblance to the boozing, skirt-chasing hooligans I grew to know and love.

        Imagine my surprise when R. Lee’s FUCK AND FIGHT showed up in my mailbox and captured the same drunken glee, nowheresville angst, simmering violence and random sex possessed by OC and Stiggs, all within the confines of 12 digest-sized pages interspersed with some priceless illustrations by Dug Belan. When our narrator and Miller, his partner in crime, decide to head to the next town for a chance to drink and hook up with some “Grafton girls who might have the urge to fuck us,” you’re not quite sure where the story’s headed. What follows is a laugh-out-loud journey that somebody should be turning into a screenplay at this very moment. It’s ludicrously underpriced at $1 from R Lee, PO Box 1421, Oshkosh, WI 54903.

 

I’ve always been impressed by zines with a singular focus, whether they’re able to maintain it for the long haul or not. One recent entry in this sweepstakes is the engaging NIGHT JAUNTS #2, a perzine out of Eugene, OR that focuses on contributor tales of walking around at night. Though the heavy-on-the-black-background layout is a bit dour, the writing makes this a title I’ll be checking in on again. A short piece by editor Ryan reminded me of nights spent tromping around campgrounds in upstate New York while the closing thoughts on walking around town between bands at a punk show took me back to nights in Philly running to Taco House for beef burritos or Troy’s for some malt liquor and an eggel (a bagel and fried egg sandwich). An interesting subject to focus on with plenty of material, NIGHT JAUNTS has a lot of potential for dark, scary and funny issues in its future. Send $2 to Ryan, PO Box 5841, Eugene, OR 97405.

 

Speaking of zines with a singular focus, Richard Freeman continues to churn out BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED on a monthly basis, which really causes me to feel shame – as Denis from SLAP SHOT would say. For the uninitiated, BNI is Freeman’s long-running (11 years? Longer?) sex industry/adult cinema zine that educates more than it titillates. Don’t order a copy expecting bodacious ta-ta’s or too-close-for comfort pictorials of stars like Britney Rears. You’re more likely to get a thoughtful piece by the likes of human sexuality author David Steinberg, a chatty, funny interview with new “tushy girl” Mari Possa, an appreciative look at Ron “Hedgehog” Jeremy, a review of John Waters’ A DIRTY SHAME, confessions of a sex industry worker (“I was sitting at my desk at 9 in the morning flipping through a hardcore stroke mag as if it were the New York Times. I wasn’t the least bit turned on. Truth be told, I was a little bored.”), tips on writing a porn film script (they have them?!), or maybe even a look inside the dark places that inspire consensual spanking.

        My only complaint with BNI – aside from the fact that it makes my annual foray into publishing seem anemic by comparison – is that the rigid design Freeman uses does little to stimulate the brain, and I don’t mean that in a “Hey Mom, Dan’s got his head in the gutter again!” kinda way. Issues I read five or six years ago look exactly like the ones I read this week, which look like the ones I read a year ago. It doesn’t make for long stretches of enjoyment, but something you’ll be sure to pick up again and again. $3 per issue for as many as you like to Richard Freeman at 513 N. Central Ave., Fairborn, OH 45324.

 

Quick Hits: LOW HUG editrex A.j. Michel rounded out the new year with TIME ENOUGH TO LAST, a one-shot reading log which I found intriguing. Yeah, blogs are great and everything, but I like printed pieces I can stick in my pocket when I go somewhere or take downstairs and curl up on the couch with. I’ve known Anita for years and always trusted her opinions, so I’ve been going through the mini looking for things to stick on my half.com wish list. She’s moving, though, so e-mail her at lowhug@yahoo.com before sending for a copy. Two publications I thoroughly enjoy are celebrating ten-year anniversaries and I’d be remiss if I didn’t give ‘em both a little plug here. Rod Lott’s HITCH has nothing to do with the horrible-looking Will Smith movie and everything to do with pop culture. I don’t know how Rod finds time to watch all the movies, listen to all the CDs and read all the books and comics that make their way into each issue, but thank god somebody’s doing it. $5 to PO Box 23621, Oklahoma City, OK 73123-2621 or check out www.rodlott.com. Last, but certainly not least, Larry Kay and Leslie Goldman keep pumping out CARBON 14’s unique blend of garage rock, smut, B-movies, art and wrestling from their secret location outside Hostile City, USA. Their latest offering serves up a wicked good CD sampler filled with over an hour of lewd and loud rawk and roll from the mag’s previous vinyl EPs. Issue #25 is $8 in the US and can be ordered from PO Box 29247, Philadelphia, PA 19125 or their web site at www.c14.com. Cheers!

 

Anne Thalheimer

121F Brittany Manor Drive

Amherst, MA 01002

motes@simons-rock.edu

 

Hi folks.

I’ve landed in Amherst, MA (the other side of the river from Gavin J. Grant) where I’m still not working quickly enough on Booty #19. I’ve created my own Bermuda triangle right here in the Pioneer Valley between my crafty home in Amherst, my swanky retail job in Northampton, and my impressively cool research associateship in South Hadley (which means I’m listed as—holy crap!—visiting faculty at Mt. Holyoke. No kidding.)

        Likes: my fey Siamese cats, boba tea, getting mail.

        Pet peeves: people spelling the Allan in Edgar Allan Poe’s name with an “e” instead of an “a.” Two separate zines in my stack did exactly this thing!

        And I’m still not calling XD readers “debt-heads” no matter how much Mr. Lyden may try to wear down all of us.

 

MINT ON YOUR PILLOW #3 by Rebecca Strom

“Every day musings from a file girl/artist/grad student extraordinaire”

151 Livingston Street, New Haven CT 06511

artgrrl28@hotmail.com

http://pages.cthome.net/strom/becky

$2 US, trades maybe, 16 pages

I’ll say it out front: I’m a sucker for comix by folks in grad school, mostly because until about  2 years ago, I was one too. Rebecca’s comics are cute and remind me of some of the really neat things I get from Moon Rocket Distro in New Zealand from time to time). While MOYP #3 doesn’t have long narratives, there’s a wide range of art included in the issue. Some are sketches, some are more detailed, and there’s one called “How to Play the Post-it Note Game” (which I’d always known as Rizzla, for Rizzla rolling papers, though I did use the post-it-note version with my students). It’s cute and charming, but don’t look for long stories.

 

MODERN ARIZONA #5, Spring 2004, by Joe Unseen

PO Box 494, Brewster NY 10509

unseen@bestweb.net

50 cents in stores, $1ppd by mail in US, $2ppd outside, trades welcome, 40 pages).

The truth is that I’ve never been all that interested in cars. I’ve only had one in my entire life, and the thing just died on me (it’s a Ford; I had to laugh ruefully when I found Joe’s slogan: Ford = Found On Road Dead). So I’ve been biking and riding the bus white shopping around and test-driving,  and so I thought the bus would be an ideal place to read an issue about “planes, trains, and automobiles.” (Turns out that there are motorbikes and a Segway too). It turned out to be particularly  good because Joe includes, basically, his reviews about  driving all of his friends and co-workers’ cars (including a Mercedes SLK32 Roadster…!), vans he had to drive for work, sneaking photos at auto shows, and flying an airplane. Joe’s writing style is very ‘prankster’—he’s funny because he’s writing about something he obviously enjoys and knows quite a bit about. There’s one particularly funny anecdote involving a co-worker, her bumper, and an Al Sharpton ’04 sticker. My understanding is that Joe organizes his issues around themes (if he seems familiar, it’s because a different issue of MA was reviewed in an earlier XD issue). By the way, don’t ever leave your keys in the car (much less the car running with the keys in it) near this guy. Or your cellphone. If you do, you deserve all the bad things that might happen.

 

AUTOCAUST: BEEF

http://seventenbishop.com

Well, if nothing else, the covers are distinctive:  the front cover of this zine’s got a BBQ steak on it, and the back’s got a shiny dildo photoshopped into a Cape Canavaral launching. A:B is a zine “composed primarily of instant messages and improvisation written by Daniel Joshua Nagelberg and Zebulun .” Zebulun you might know from his reviews in XD #14. See the website for more details. This zine felt like one long inside joke between friends ; while there are some interesting photographs (not the steaks on the BBQ) some of the writing reads like stream-of-consciousness composition (well, that’s because it is), which is sometimes an interesting experiment but doesn’t always make for the most cohesive reading.

 

SISTER FRIEND #16

Leslie and JJ

PO Box 4539, Fairview Heights, IL, 62208

http://sisterfriend3.tripod.com

Features cover by Billy McKay. The cover is lovely and it’s prettily colored in (something for which I am always a sucker), plus it’s bordered with bright, cheerful flowered ribbons. Billy McKay’s drawn the two editors on the cover (all pink hair on my issue), and DB Pedlar’s sketches of the sisters inside. The issue itself is vaguely charming, in that JJ’s got a story about looking for a job (and surviving sucky job interviews, something to which most of us can relate), An Interview with JJ by Leslie called “Elitist and Classist in the Midwest”, Leslie’s story “My Sister’s Cowboy Boyfriend” (to which her sister JJ retorts “A Shinier Turd is Still Just a Turd” in defense of said cowboy boyfriend). Part of it reads like an inside joke between siblings –you’ll feel like you’re missing something, but it’s okay; that’s sort of how it works between siblings.  The only thing I wasn’t crazy about was that there’s a whole lot of white space in the zine, including three blank pages at the end that, by the time I got there,  I’d wished had more writing on them because I was enjoying what I was reading . Partially I think I feel this way because I do comix and I have a contentious relationship with blank space. But I also always thought that if you’re going to have to use the paper, you might as well make use of it.

 

ERIK AND LAURA-MARIE MAGAZINE #14 (May 2004) and #15 (?)

free per-zine

LM Taylor

1728 Richmond St. #9, Sacramento CA 95825

inyotutor@yahoo.com

#14 contains lots of quotations from famous folks like Naomi Wolf; how to speak “Bishop” and “Worker” (which I’m guessing are educational places, though that wasn’t explained),  a piece about student evaluations and teaching, a piece called :four ways of looking at the same problem,” some poetry and some thinking about poetry, and a list of “My values.” #15 contains writing about war: brainstorming about why it happens, and what we can do to stop war. Includes an interview with the author’s best friend, Ellen Redbird, which I thought was quite interesting (particularly because she spoke about both “gender-queer” and “feminism” in smart, aware ways) even though something was wrong with the signature and the pages were upside-down and out of order (and there weren’t any page numbers to help clarify! Augh!). More poetry, a piece about moving, and “new games” for students or while you’re out for a walk with someone else. The writing style is clear and direct, and while you might not spend a great deal of time reading, some of the issues will stay with you when you’re done.

 

SLUG & LETTUCE #79

c/o Christine

PO Box 26632, Richmond, VA 23261-6632

Free in person or 60 cents postage within US, Canada & Mexico $1, Worldwide $2

No checks for less than $10; checks should be made out to Chris Boarts Larson (not Slug and Lettuce). Donations are welcome and you should send money.