Sassyfrass Circus #3 / $1.00 / 35g
Description to come.
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Sassyfrass Circus #4 / $1.00 / 35g
Description to come.
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Sassyfrass Circus #5 / $1.00 / 30g
I think it’s pretty obvious by now that I love J Bee’s zines. In this issue, we see J Bee graduating with a BA in American Studies, falling in love, growing a unicorn horn, having an awkward visit with the doctor and coining the term femmederfuck. Sometimes these stories take shape in the form of comics, other times in a short essay or even a flow chart.
Sassyfrass Circus #6 / $1.00 / 30g
“Sometimes when you make grand declarations you need to be prepared to put your foot in your mouth. Like in the last issue of this zine, when I declared to the world that ‘my ship is leaving port’ referring of course to how I was ‘so ready to get the fuck out of College Park.’ So here I am, working 40 hours a week in a cubicle, in College Park.”
Sassyfrass Circus #7 / $1.00 / 30g
It’s the latest issue of your favourite queer comic! This is always one of the most popular zines for people to pick up when I’m tabling at zinefests, and not without good reason. The artwork is indeed eye-catching, and the content is original, humourous, and intelligent. This issue is all about J Bee’s post-graduation misadventures: job interviews, fashion faux-pas, co-organizing the DC Zinefest and more. I’m super into the piece on idiopathic hirsutism and queer visibility, and another installment of the Puke On Annoying People Project. Fuck yeah!
SCAM #9: Damaged – The Story Of Black Flag’s Classic First Album / $3.00 / 90g
Description to come.
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Self-Care For Zinesters / $2.00 / 10g
Description from Maranda’s Etsy: “In this zine, I write about self-care from the point-of-view of an introvert, weirdo, and decade-long zinester with depression, anxiety, BPD, & chronic pain. I travel quite a bit for zinefests & readings, so this zine focuses on how to take good care of yrself while on the road & at home, livin’ the zinester life (including For Zinesters on the Road, Taking Care of Ourselves & Each Other at Zinefests, Self-Care for the Zinester at Home, Advice for First-Time & Aspiring Zinesters and more). This zine is an expanded & updated version of an article I originally wrote for my blog. (There’s lots of new stuff! Don’t worry, I wouldn’t make you pay to read a blog entry pasted onto paper.) I write about telling your friends about your needs, my tiny pharmacy that I bring with me wherever I go, the importance of sleep & coffee, being realistic about what you can do in an unfamiliar city, journaling, patience, and gratitude. I also write about learning how to say no and setting boundaries in various zine-related situations, participating in workshops, and finding friends who support what you do. I feel like this zine could be useful not just for zinesters, but for writers, travelers, DIY & DIT artists, and anybody who wants to take their art on the road but has a lot of baggage (as opposed to luggage).”
Six Ans De Pouce / $3.00 / 80g
Déscription à venir.
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Skinned Heart #3 / $3.00 / 40g
I’ve read this zine several times, most recently at my kitchen table on an autumn evening, with a cup of tea by my side. It’s one of those zines that you can spend a lotta time mulling over, you know? There are a few main themes in this one – female friendships, jealousy / competition, open relationships, and being a person of colour in a predominantly white punk scene. Really thoughtful and honest writing, with a cut-and-paste layout. Total favourite.
Skinned Heart #4 / 40g / $3.00
In this issue, Nyky documents her moves from Texas to Arizona and most recently to Seattle, Washington, while also navigating the complicated effects of colonization – including feeling like an outsider to both Mexican culture and to radical-feminist-punk subculture. Other topics include learning to take care of herself in regards to chronic illness, dealing with the fallout of being involved in an abusive relationship, and learning how to communicate within an open relationship. “They [the author's family] had a lot and they lost a lot chasing the American dream. Slowly but surely we chased and assimilated to that American lifestyle in the Arizona desert looking for a life full of respect and status. This is where those cracks in my identity began, where there was a Mexican me and an assimilated me, where I began and learned to tolerate a life of duality.”
Sub Rosa #7 / $2.00 / 15g
Yes! Another zine on sobriety! Taryn quit drinking in June 2010, after having woken up hungover and handcuffed in a jail cell. It’s a cliché phrase, but sometimes it really does take hitting rock bottom in order to quit. This one is a tough zine to read, all about heartbreak and addiction. Keepin’ the personal in the word perzine.
Telegram #23 / $3.00 / 15g
“Of course the past can never change, we hear that so often we don’t really think about it anymore. But what if you did think about it? Like, right now? Everything that has happened up to this moment absolutely cannot be changed no matter what.” This appears on the last page of this issue and has had quite an affect on me. I am learning to finally let things go. Maranda’s writing is often strong, honest and profound, and this is no exception. This issue covers a two-month stay at a mental health institution, a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, radical sobriety, identifying as genderqueer / genderless, their Be Your Own Therapist project and more. Featuring cover art by Clara Bee Lavery. I really can’t recommend it enough.
Telegram #24 / $3.00 / 15g
The overall theme of this zine could be declared “self-care”, but if you’re already familiar with Maranda’s writing, then you know that it’s so much more than that. They are such an excellent writer and I’m more and more amazed with every issue. The main focuses in this one are writings on genderqueer/genderless identity, and learning both how to support friends with mental illnesses (including throughout hospital stays – and Maranda often employs the term ‘crazyfolk’), as well as self-care tips for those who are working through their own stuff.
Télégramme #24 / $3.00 / 20g
Version française de Telegram #24, traduit par Lou pour Mad Pride Montréal. Déscription à venir.
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Telegram #26 / $3.00 / 15g
Description from Maranda’s Etsy: “I asked my friends to ask me questions about anything at all, and their questions led me to all sorts of stories & memories & inspiration. This zine answers some of those questions and tells some of those stories. In Telegram #26, I write about learning how to be honest despite my fears and shyness, dealing with jealousy in the realm of art & writing & creativity, and my various writing processes and the beauty of creating spaces to write as well as venturing out of those spaces to write elsewhere. I also write about life as a genderqueerdo who also feels left out and invisible, not feeling part of a genderqueer community, but wanting to, and having to give up some of my dreams of girl-friendship & girl-romance & girl gangs. I talk about nightmares I had when I was growing up, the beginning stages of treating my depression & agoraphobia as a teenager, and I talk about my favourite kinds of days and adventures.”
Todo Sobre Mi Madre / $2.00 / 20g
The Spanish title translates to All About My Mother. This is a really sweet cut-and-paste zine wherein Rachel tells the story of her mother’s life via anecdotes, photos, and excerpts from letters. “The first time my mother saw snow was her first year in college. She said the snowflakes were so big they looked like moths falling from the sky.”
The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes #1 / $1.00 / 10g
This is the zine that I completed as artist-in-residence at the Roberts Street Social Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s a quarter-size perzine, mostly typewritten, with a few handwritten phrases and sparse cut-and-paste details. I’ve written about accepting loneliness as an inevitability and staying sober in a world that seems to want me drunk or dead. Excerpt: “The heaviness on my chest, the fluttering in my tummy… they are always going to be there. It is time to stop searching for the remedy and to finally accept them as a part of me. I want to embrace my sadness without letting it keep me in bed for days on end. And if my anxiety keeps me locked in my apartment, I’d like to invite someone else over.”
TEMPORARILY SOLD OUT
The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes #2 / Cheaptoys #10 / $2.00 / 30g
Giz and I made a split zine! In the second issue of The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes, I’ve written about hitchhiking from Montréal to Halifax and the three weeks that I spent on Canada’s East Coast during the summer. Almost entirely handwritten (I have really neat printing, I swear) with simple illustrations throughout. If you ever wondered what a zine residency looks like, this is it. I stayed in the shed at the Roberts Street Social Centre for two weeks, then spent a few days in Sackville, New Brunswick for Sappyfest. Read along as I work through my syndrome de la page blanche and punch a dude in the face. I’d call Cheaptoys something of a punk-perzine, always full of tour stories and photos from various travels and shows. Giz begins by writing of his experiences in the suburbs of Monaco and Paris, and his desire to leave France for library school. Also documented are his adventures from presenting at an academic conference in Utrecht, Netherlands, to playing Plan-It-X Fest in Bloomington, Indiana (up the scholar punx!), plus an interview with an anonymous graffiti artist, and more. Il faut remarquer que ce split-zine est écrit en français-anglais, un mélange de langues comme on s’écrit dans nos lettres. (It should be noted that this zine is written in a mixture of French and English, just like we write to each other in letters).
Truckface #14 / $2.00 / 55g
Truckface is one of those impossibly thick zines where you could read it for days on end, just waiting for the staples to burst right out. If you’re not familiar with the series, LB is a teacher at a public school and mostly focuses on writing about this job. This is the year that LB gets a little more comfortable at work after an awful year, shares Maus with their high school students, helps them create activist campaigns for various issues, deals with the aftermath of a drive-by shooting outside of the school, and more. Text-heavy with illustrations throughout.
Truckface #15 / $2.00 / 55g
Another great read from LB. “This is my life as an androgynous public high school English teacher… I generally love my students. I love my city… All of this was written over a very busy summer vacation and fall weekends. Grammar is still an issue. I am not perfect; I am kind of an asshole. Every day I ride the train to work and right before we hit the underground tunnel at Division, I read the same fading graffiti on a building for sale. It says, ‘Forgive yourself.’ I read this line every morning, shoulders bumping into business suits, balancing coffee mug, bag of papers to be graded and a computer on my back. With the sun noticeably absent or barely present, I made sure to look for that piece of graffiti every morning.”
Truckface #16 / $3.00 / 55g
Description to come.
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TEMPORARILY SOLD OUT
Unicornzine / $1.00 / 10g
Writings on queer identity and mental health, reads something like a manifesto. “Being a unicorn means leading a different sort of life, one contrary to profit, fitting in and keeping your head down. Unicorns comes galloping from the margins back into the edges of perception. Just like queerness is used to define ourselves and band together under a banner of ‘FUCK YOUR HEGEMONIES’, unicorns too stomp hard and demand existence. Unicorns are anarchist in nature as they are a societal force of rupturing, a destruction of order and business as usual to give way for an other.”
What To Keep, What To Give Away #1 / $1.00 / 20g
This is the zine that Khristina worked on during her stay here at the Tulip Farm for the Fight Boredom Zine Residency. It’s an intensely personal document of recent relationships in her life, and how they’ve been affected by patriarchy, white supremacy, and other dynamics of power and privilege. Basically, she decided to remain celibate for a period of time and examine these relationships. The writing here comes from personal accounts of her sexual history, as well as knowledge drawn from essays by Audre Lorde and bell hooks. This is the sorta zine I would classify under the heading “radical vulnerability”.
XXV / $1.00 / 20g
In this perzine, Hari reflects on his involvement in punk and it’s ever-present influence on his life and ideals. Writings on moving from the West Coast to Montréal, and which of his ideas of big cities were proven true, while others were of course false. Also included is a contribution from Steve (of Broke Ass) on growing up in Newfoundland and pining for something more. I’m really into musings on small towns versus big cities, and the concept of home, which is why this zine is right up my alley. “So much of punk seems to have lost most threat or is available on a silver platter. Crass doing reunion tours, Bad Brains on shoes, and all the rest that everyone already complains about. It just seems boring if it is all cleaned up and ready for anyone to purchase – and thus unavailable to those who can’t. So maybe that’s why I still like zines. No waiting for everyone to show up for practice, barely any tools required, and no limit to content.”
Your Secretary #10 / Dig Deep #3 / $2.00 / 30g
A split zine by two of my favourite zinesters! Heather and Jami each write about being librarians, but have very unique voices. Jami can offer deadpan sarcasm and bittersweet tales where Heather writes lighthearted amusing anecdotes and heartfelt tales and lists. Both sides have moments that can be laugh-out-loud funny, charming… or anger-inducing (the things dudes do in libraries!). Heather writes about libraries as a safe space, creating a zine collection, and working with teens. Jami writes about leaving Detroit, working in a zoo library, and teaching people how to use the internet. She also shares tidbits about all the libraries she’s known. This is a really sweet and fun read.
Zine Crush #1 / $1.00 / 40g
Description to come.
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Zine Crush #2 / $1.00 / 40g
Confessions of like. This zine is compiled anonymously in Portland, Oregon and contains fourteen stories of zine crushes – from a lonely cat waiting to dive into a box of zines, to best friendship, to the inevitable missed connections at zinefests – and my very first comic! I contributed a piece about two zine crushes and a postal scam. This is a pretty endearing read, and the creation of this zine has helped me to acknowledge my crushes and be less afraid of making myself vulnerable. Win win!
