Zine News Round-Up: 30.10.11

photo via http://waronxmas.tumblr.com

1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events

3. Submission Calls

4. Zine Reviews

5. Distro News

6. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
 - Welsh feminist zine “Pandora Press #1: Our Feminist Heroes” is now available to view online for free on issuu.com!

- “Kerb Crawled: Reacting to Street Harassment” was published on Northern Indymedia this week.

- The September issue of LHOOQ (pronounced “Look”), an art and culture zine, is now available to view online on the LHOOQ website.

- Vampire Sushi #2 will be released tomorrow, and Miss Tukru will be doing a special giveaway with it. All will be revealed on Vampire Sushi’s tumblr and Tukru’s blog tomorrow!

- Financially Hard Times #6, a monthly pop culture zine, is out now!  Buy the zine, or buy a year’s subscription for £10, here.

- A new perzine, Each and Every Day, has just been released. Buy or trade your copy here.

2. Upcoming Events
 - South East London Zine Fest: 12^th November at Amersham Arms, New Cross.  More info here: http://selondonzines.wordpress.com/

 - LaDIYfest Sheffield: 12^th – 13^th November. An inclusive, DIY, anti-capitalist, community-based feminist festival. http://ladiyfestsheff.noblogs.org/

- ShadowPlay’s fanzine evening: 30^th November. 7pm til 10pm at Drink, Shop & Do in Kings Cross, London on the 30th November from 7pm-10pm. More information can be found on their blog.

3. Submission Calls
- A zine dedicated to Lisa Simpson and feminism is looking for submissions before the 6^th November.  Both writing and artwork are welcome. Send your submissions to bsiveyerATgmail.com.

- Issue 2 of horror zine Black Sunday is looking for fiction and poetry submissions.  More info can be found at http://www.dirgepress.co.uk/.

4. Zine Reviews

- More zine recommendations have been posted on Oh My Clumsy Heart this month – read them all here.

5. Distro News

- Bettie Walker (author of “Anatomical Heart” and “Buy Her Candy”) is starting up a new distro called “Backpack Distro”.  It’s a small distro based out of her backpack and used primarily for tabling at events. If you want to send something for consideration, email bettieriotATgmail.com.

- We’ve added lots of UK distros to our sidebar!  Have we missed any distros?  Let us know!

6. A.O.B.
- Someone’s thinking of setting up a Norfolk zine fest.  Are you from that area, or would travel to a zine fest there?  Join the conversation on We Make Zines.

- Chella Quint turned her latest comedy zine (“It’s Not You, I Just Need Space”) into a podcast which you can listen to here: http://bit.ly/p1ut0

- Ingrid (Mythologising Me zine) has written a review of the Salford Zine Library exhibition at Salford Art Gallery – check it out!

Review: Turnstile Comix #1 (Comic Book/7'')

When I finished university and was faced with the possibility of having to move abroad to get a job, I lost interest in buying and owning physical albums. After all, what’s the point in investing in a large collection of music that will be such a hassle to take with you, or alternatively, to sell at short notice? Due to this, my interest in vinyl has taken a bit of a nosedive. It really takes something special to convince me to indulge.

When I heard about the release of Turnstile Comix #1, a 40-page 7’’ black and white comic book and marble blue 7’’ record package, I pre-ordered it instantly. I was curious why this hadn’t really been attempted before. When I finally received the package, held together by a simple resealable plastic sleeve, I wasn’t too sure which part I wanted to check out first.

The Slow Death are a relatively new punk band made up of members of bands like Pretty Boy Thorson, Rest of Us and The Ergs! From the opening riff of “Poor Little Fool” that really reminded me of the song “Rosa” by Dear Landlord, the band establish the sound for the whole record. Simply put, it’s palm-muted, power-chord pop punk. Musically, it’s not rocket science, but the throaty lead vocals help to give it a bit of an edge, and the well-placed backing vocals inject what would be best described as a ‘drunken singalong vibe’, particularly on the track “Punchlines”. It’s a great 7'', and fans of bands like Iron Chic, Rumspringer and Latterman will really feel at home here. Thankfully, a free download code is included. Now, onto the comic book!

The comic is lovingly drawn by punk rock cartoonist to the stars Mitch Clem, the creator of Nothing Nice To Say. The book starts with a story related to how Mitch first discovered the band. It’s typically self-deprecating and very funny, although, much like his long-running comic strip, the humour may be restricted somewhat to the fans of the genre. What makes the package worth buying for fans of the band though, is that the members of The Slow Death have told two of their best stories from the road that Mitch has drawn as two separate comic strips. This is the ultimate substitute for liner notes. Without spoiling the stories for you, I guess I can say that the first story is a great depiction of life on the road for a band of that level, and the second is an extremely funny story about one of their members, Dave Strait, being drunk. Also included is a bonus comic on the very last page by the fantastic Liz Prince, the writer of Alone Forever.

With my initial excitement over the concept alone, I easily set myself up to be disappointed by the finished product. I’m happy to say that I was wrong on this occasion, and the split comic book and coloured 7’’ package has, in my eyes, been a huge success! It really got me thinking on how physical music should be presented, and of the effort that little known bands go to in order to convince people to buy their products. One of the really positive developments in an increasingly digital-orientated world is that artists in every sense of the word are being pushed to create something special. It really goes to show that in the sale of any physical product, going over and above the expectations of buyers and trying to offer something made out of love is always likely to win people over, even those that swore to stop buying these things. If there was ever a message I'd like to convey to the writers of zines, it would be to follow this logic religiously.

Zine News Round-Up: 16.10.11

Just a short one today, as there doesn't seem to be much going on right now! Don't forget, if you have any zine news you'd like us to include in our fortnightly news round ups, email us at spillthezinesukATgmailDOTcom.

Emma x

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1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events
3. Submission Calls

4. Distro News

5. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases

- Rum Lad #5 has just been released, featuring Steve's account of when his band flew to America for a month long tour and their adventures there. Available on Steve's website, and at Vampire Sushi.

- The new issue of Coldspot is out now. Coldspot #2 is an Irish photography zine featuring photos from many different contributors. Available at Coldspot's BigCartel store, and also available for trades.
- Tragic Boffin #2 has been released this week!  For a copy, contact Donna at tragicboffinATgmailDOTcom.
- A new compzine called "An Unguide to Leeds city Centre" is out now - buy a copy from the Exposure Leeds website: http://exposureleeds.org/?p=3142
- Issue #5 of Angry Violist, the zine for disgruntled classical musicians, has just been released (http://angryviolist.wordpress.com/2011/10/04/issue-five-out-now/). This issue has articles about different kinds of noise and sports psychology for musicians, amongst other things.

2. Upcoming Events
- Girls Get Busy (or Ghouls Get Busy) are holding their very own Halloween themed club night at The Alibi, Dalston. They'll projecting spooky film The Craft, giving out spooky treat bags and Halloween themed zines. Visit the Facebook event for more information.

 - South East London Zine Fest: 12^th November. Applications for tables are still open! More info here: http://selondonzines.wordpress.com/

 - LaDIYfest Sheffield: 12^th – 13^th November. an inclusive, DIY, anti-capitalist, community-based feminist festival. http://ladiyfestsheff.noblogs.org/

- ShadowPlay is going to be hosting a fanzine evening at Drink, Shop & Do in Kings Cross, London on the 30th November from 7pm-10pm. During the evening you can read their favourite zines, and contribute to a compilation zine, with zine making materials provided. More information can be found on their blog.

3. Submission Calls

- Jon Glanville is currently looking for submissions for a zine titled Why We Love Pop Music, a zine about what makes pop music so great. He's looking for articles, artwork, mini essays, graphic pieces - basically anything on the subject of pop. Email pepstreebeckAThotmailDOTcoDOTuk for more details and to submit work. Deadline is November 18th.
 - Vampire Sushi is still looking for submissions for its second issue! The main theme is vampires but other monsters & horror themes are welcome too. The deadline has been extended to 23rd October - detailed info can be found here.

4. Distro News

- Vampire Sushi distro now have badges available to order! You can buy their awesome zinester-themed badges on their website here.

4. AOB 

- If you create zines but don't own a typewriter (and wish you did), you can now download replicas of amazing typwriter fonts for your computer at http://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-fonts.html!

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(originally written by Emma, edited a teeny bit by Cath)

Zine Reviews: October '11

Dancing Barefoot #2

Hayley, Essex – moonlight.phoenixATgmailDOTcom

The second issue of Hayley’s perzine, this one focuses on the loose theme of independence and a DIY attitude.  We read about Hayley’s experiences of making friends from her childhood to present-day, her difficulties with holding onto her local friends when they’ve moved away, started families, or drifted apart, undertaking projects and making things happen despite not having anyone to help her, and whether it’s necessarily a bad thing to be a “loner”.  As somewhat of a loner myself, I really identified with this piece, and was inspired to read about how she has taken charge of her life despite her bad luck with friends.  The second half of the zine details Hayley’s experience organising the first Ladyfest Essex all by herself this year – the difficulties she faced (and unfortunately there were many difficulties!), the excellent bands that she got to play, and some advice for others thinking of putting on a similar event themselves.  The text is black on a plain white background, with some photos illustrating the articles.  This zine is full-sized A4, so it’s pretty unwieldy, but Hayley explains in the introduction that this was the cheapest and easiest way she could get her zine printed in her area, so that’s fair enough.

Anatomical Heart #10 & Buy Her Candy #1

Bettie Walker, Carlisle  - bettieriotATgmailDOTcom

Anatomical Heart #10 is the final issue of this mental health zine series, published in late 2010.  Bettie explains in Buy Her Candy #1 that she decided to stop writing Anatomical Heart because she didn’t want or need to write about mental health anymore – Bettie is currently training to be a mental health nurse, and so “my life still revolves around mental illness, just not mine”.  Anatomical Heart #10 feels like a nice transition from mental health to perzine, a kind of preparation for Buy Her Candy, as there is more perzine content in here than in previous issues - we read about what Bettie has been up to and what she’d like to get up to instead, her visit to Birmingham Zine Festival 2010, the regret she feels after giving away most of her zine collection, and an open letter to a mental health nurse that changed her life.  Bettie also briefly discusses making progress with her mental health and being able to reason her way through mental breakdowns, something she could never have done in the past. Buy Her Candy #1 is about half the size of Anatomical Heart #10, and has more eye-catching layouts.  After explaining why she has started a new series, Bettie writes about being diagnosed with PCOS, and how she feels alienated by feminists who argue that women should grow out their natural hair, as these feminists tend to have light, sparse hair (this issue has also been discussed in zines Femme a Barbe and Cooking Hearts Up At The Stove).  Bettie also writes about same sex marriage and civil partnerships, and the politics of both, and moving in with her girlfriend.  Also included are things she likes doing, and a playlist.  Both zines are very sweet, very personal, and lovely to read, with lovely cut and paste layouts, and colour covers. 

Exploding the Myth #4
Kira Swales, Chester – www.kiraswales.co.uk

Exploding the Myth is a packed half-sized perzine; this issue covers tattoos, having a widespread family, her trans partner’s journey through transitioning, ways of coping with bouts of depression, gardening, Marmalade Atkins, her relationship with feminism, reasons why feminism is still needed, and the idea of “preaching to the converted” when writing about feminism in zines.  I loved this piece in particular, as it’s something I’ve struggled with in my zines – Kira argues that it’s closed-minded to assume that all readers will be well acquainted with feminism, and that not everyone is lucky enough to have liberal or open-minded people around them.  That really made me think, and helped me relax about whether my zine writing is too “feminism 101” – so what?  As Kira notes, one can always pass on a zine to someone who may appreciate it more if they’re already fully aware of the issues raised inside.   There are also some lovely little things scattered about, including a mix tape tracklist, an eulogy for her DR Martens boots, how to make a pleated apron, and a rocky road recipe.  It’s a fun and friendly zine, packed with hand drawings, cool cut-and-paste layouts, stencilled lettering, handwriting, and typewritten bits.  Just lovely.

Gardener’s Delight #1

Fliss, London - flisscATgmailDOTcom

A very cool zine by Fliss, the lady behind “Mix Zine”!  It’s a “personal but practical guide” to growing your own food for the first time.  It opens with a lovely piece on why gardening is so important – to get back to the true nature of things, to connect with the earth, and to watch something you’ve planted grow and develop is one of the most satisfying expeiences one can have, according to Fliss.  She also argues that home-grown food tastes so much better than mass-produced supermarket foods.  Then, Fliss gives us some handy tips on allotment gardening, indoor growing, outdoor growing (either in your own garden, or a green space in your local community), and how to do all of this on the cheap.  These guides include what equipment you need, how to weed and prepare the soil, where to find cheap or free seeds, and what time of the year to start planting.  Fliss lists some common plants that are easy to grow with tips on how to take care of them (e.g. chives, courgettes, onions); she also recommends a number of books and websites for more info on home growing.  It’s 4” by 11.5”, with lots of hand-written sections, drawings of vegetables and gardening tools, and cut-and-paste typed text.  Unusual, and very informative.

Review: Sheffield Zine Fair '11

photo by Bettie Walker (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bettieriot)

This is a guest post by Louise Viner, who writes "Tempest in a Tea Cup" zine.

On Sunday 25th September, the first ever Sheffield Zine Fair was held at Brezza’s Cafe on Wellington Street in the city and I was lucky enough to go along. Having been to only two other fests before, I was a little nervous but extremely excited.

I was staying in Sheffield with Jess from "Rough Draft" zine so finding the venue was pretty easy; a small, dark and cosy coffee house with ridiculously comfy sofas that ate you up when you sat down, hidden behind a department store, that was not much of a walk from the train station. We were welcomed by a busy and bustling venue, with people all over. There were tables full of all different types of zines and we were welcomed in by smiley people as we came through the door (which in my other two zine fest experiences, isn’t the norm!) which made both Jess and I much less anxious.

image by Spin Lix

Jess and I wandered around Brezza which was a small but not cramped space, picking up zines and having a browse. The first thing that caught my eye, after the overflowing freebies table, was that most people were selling zines for only £1-£2, with maybe a pound or two more for ‘art zines’, which made me very happy; previously, I have come across hand sewn booklets of 4 or 5 pages with wonderful drawings for up to £10, which is a price I don’t associate with zines!

After having a little look around in the first room, we went into the next and headed to see Bettie ("Anatomical Heart"/"Buy Her Candy") and get her newest issue. While in the 2nd, much larger room, I found plenty of lovely people to talk to, again a welcome change, including the Sugar Paper gang, Chella Quint ("Adventures in Menstruating"), Cath ("Here. In My Head.") and other awesome people whose names I didn’t catch.

The fest was on from 11am til 6pm, but we arrived just after 12 and stayed till 5. The venue was buzzing with people the whole time. There was an array of different people there, from the typical arty alternative types, to punks, families with children and older people having a nose at what was going on. Throughout the day there were workshops on topics such as kerb crawling, crafts, and zine readings, featuring Cath, Chella, and other brave zinesters.

The people at the Sheffield Zine Fair were much more welcoming and warm than those at other fests I have attended. There also seemed to be much less elitism going on, with people chatting away from both behind and in front of the tables. There was an eclectic mix of music playing and the atmosphere was great.  While table sitting for Cath, people spoke to me much more, even mistaking me for her, while talking about Here. In My Head (sorry Cath!). I also found that people were less pushy and uptight about their zines as I have experienced at other fests, which made the whole experience much better for me, personally.

I personally picked up some amazing and interesting zines; "Buy her Candy", "Kerb Crawled", "Get Back", "Pandora Press", and "Be Honourable", as well an awesome zine about feminist child rearing called "Raise Some Hell". I was a little disappointed about the lack of distros at this event, as many couldn't make it on the day.  It was a shame because I personally prefer looking through what a distro has to offer rather than an individual stall, as it can be less awkward. I didn’t let this spoil the event however, as talking to individuals about their own zines was a welcome challenge and change for me and everyone I spoke to was more than happy to talk about their wares.

Overall, the zine fair was a great, comfortable experience, which for a first time event, is amazing! I look forward to next year's fair and who knows, maybe I’ll have my own table this time! It was a wonderful experience to meet zinesters who I could only discover through fests as well as finally getting to meet Cath, in all her purple haired glory (her Mum was sweet too!) (aw shucks - ed.).  I am full of praise for the organisers of the first Sheffield Zine Fair and can only hope they continue to put on the event every year.

photo by Bettie Walker

Zine News Round-Up: 02.10.11

1. Zine Releases

2. Upcoming Events

3. Submission Calls

4. Zine Reviews

5. Distro News

6. AOB (Any Other Business)

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1. Zine Releases
 - Another cool art zine by Sky Nash has been released this week: SICK.  Available on etsy.

 - Girls Get Busy #8 is out now!  Buy a copy of the zine, or a GGB totebag and t-shirt, on their Big Cartel store.

2. Upcoming Events
  - Camden Zine Fest: 8^th October.  1pm til 6pm at The Pirate Castle. Includes workshops and zine readings alongside the stalls.  More info at http://camdenzinefest.blogspot.com/.
- Craftivism Manchester: 9^th October, 11pm til 4pm; 15^th October, 10am til 4pm.  Held at the People’s History Museum. www.phm.org.uk

 - South East London Zine Fest: 12^th November. Applications for tables are still open! More info here: http://selondonzines.wordpress.com/

 - LaDIYfest Sheffield: 12^th – 13^th November. an inclusive, DIY, anti-capitalist, community-based feminist festival. http://ladiyfestsheff.noblogs.org/

3. Submission Calls
 - The Anarchist Blog are looking for submissions for Uncivilisation Zine #1!  They’re looking for articles on anarchism, vegetarianism, anti-fascism, environmentalism, and feminism.  Email them at theanarchistblogATgmailDOTcom for more info.

 - Penpal Adventures: A Curated Zine on the Experiences of Girls as Penpals.  Helena and Sarah are looking for personal essays, nonfiction prose, comics, letters/excerpts, photos and ephemera from your days of pre-internet correspondence. Deadline: February 1st 2012.  Please send submissions to: penpal.zineATgmailDOTcom.
 - Tukru is looking for submissions for Vampire Sushi zine #2!  The main theme is vampires but other monsters & horror themes are welcome too. The deadline has been extended to 23rd October! Detailed info can be found here.
 - The Pandora Press zine deadline has been extended by a week!  The theme is sex; the new deadline is 9th October.  Submissions must be from the South Wales area. More info here.

4. Zine Reviews

 - Sophie at Oh My Clumsy Heart has posted some zine recommendations – take a look.
 - Laura-Marie (author of US zine Functionally Ill) has started a new zine review blog up.  While it’s not UK-centered, she has reviewed lots of UK zines there recently, including Buy Her Candy #1, Here. In My Head#9, and Three Days Of My Life I Will Never Get Back. Take a look!

5. Distro News

 - Marching Stars is on hiatus for a week or so.  Keep up to date on MS distro's tumblr.

 - Princesa Pirata has added some cool new stuff to her catalogue, including handmade postcards and calendars by A-K herself! http://princesapiratadistro.wordpress.com/

 - Vampire Sushi has been updated, with new zines in stock! http://vampiresushi.co.uk/

6. A.O.B.
 - Salford Zine Library have made a film all about zines, which will be screened at Salford Art Gallery this winter. Here’s a preview, featuring a guide on how to make your own zine!  Awesome stuff: