i like zines and so should you! Reviews and news of zines, magazines and independent publications from the owner of Pushpin Zine distro.
Just a heads up if you like good music writing - they’re ending tomorrow! I’m not looking to make any money on these, just cover postage and save them from the recycling bin. I also have a couple of years worth of US Nylon magazines I’ll be listing in a few weeks. If you’re looking for any issues give me a shout.
Future Tense
Subtitled ‘A comic compilation about “2012” and/or “the future,” featuring 11 different artists’, which is exactly what it is. I don’t normally buy comics because I’m more of a words person than a pictures person but I enjoyed this a lot and two of my favourites were almost text free, by Edie Fake and Caroline Paquita. There’s also a great mostly-text piece by one of my favourite zinesters Al Burian. Not everything was to my taste but that’s the risk with compilations.
My favourite thing about the zine though is how it looks - it’s printed on a risograph duplicator mostly in blue ink so there’s some lovely print effects (although I trained as a printmaker so I may be biased). The yellow pages in the middle are a nice touch too.
Well worth your money and still available from Caroline Paquita’s Etsy shop, along with an illustrated calendar.
(photos from her Etsy listing - it’s too dark and foggy here)
I’ve been sorting out all my zines lately so that they might fit into, um, three boxes. There’s 20 years of zines here - I’ll start picking some out to feature here soon. Recognise any?
Reading Outing #2 - Astronomy Now
This wasn’t a proper reading outing, more that I had too many errands in town and had to stop for lunch. Luckily I had the latest issue of Astronomy Now in my bag.
I’ve been a space nerd since I was very small and even though I can keep up with all the space news online it’s nice to sit down and read some proper articles. This issue had some good stuff on the Moon and nice article about indoor astronomy - I didn’t know hanging out the window with my telescope was so frowned upon! I wish the magazine was more fun but I like it more than the others I’ve read.
Eat, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow
(I had a strange chicken sandwich with pine nuts. Will not be returning any time soon)
Blimey - someone is scanning in pages from the entire run of Select magazine. I think I read pretty much every issue of this. (thanks to James for the tip!)
Reading Outing #1 - Wanderlust
(In an attempt to catch up on my magazine reading, I’m allowing myself regular cafe outings for reading. Yes, I’m self-employed and a workaholic and need to schedule fun.)
For my first reading outing I braved the torrential rain (soon to become snow!) and ran to Tinderbox, which is always warm and has lots of tables and nooks, plus they never ever bother you, even if you stay there for hours. I was reading Wanderlust, the magazine for “independent-minded travellers”. Basically, that means articles on visiting Greenland, hiking in Russia, where to stay in a treehouse or a lighthouse, and a nature reservation in Laos where you get to your accommodation by zipwire. Pretty cool stuff. If, like me, you’re often tempted to buy guidebooks for places you’ll never visit, then you’ll like this a lot. Wanderlust are currently doing a 4 issues for £5 deal, which is really too good to turn down.
Tinderbox, 118 Ingram St, Glasgow (and other branches)
I had an Indonesian meatball toasted sandwich and peppermint tea if anyone’s interested.
Sorry purists, I may also post about out of print books sometimes. This is seriously the most amazing review I have ever read. I envy this man’s turn of phrase and am so glad previous owners didn’t lose the dust jacket. Looking forward to reading the book too - Eric Linklater’s A Year of Space, basically a 1950s travelogue of the east. The chapter titles read promisingly.
How To Be A Ghost by Neil Slorance and Campbell Miller
This is an especially pleasing zine to review as I was a bit of an instigator. I’ve been “encouraging” Neil to do a zine for ages and he came along to my zine workshop and made a little zine about a ghost. A year or so later and here’s a proper finished illustrated zine. It’s a guide for what to do when you become a ghost, written by a new ghost and is at times sweet, funny and a little bit sad. As well as tips on ghost activities like haunting your old enemies and winding up psychics, you’ll learn that it’s best to make the most of your time on earth before it’s too late.
I’ve got some copies available at Pushpin for a measly £4 which includes an original drawing too. Bargain.
Neil’s on Tumblr too - go follow him!
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