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March 1, 2000
For the last ten years,
I have held a certain fascination with zines, which I like to define as
homemade magazines to those who aren't aware of the phenomenon. What's
absolutely pathetic is that in all that time I could never get my act together
to actually put one out on paper myself.
Instead, I would buy
books about zines.
And so, as a feeble means
to justify this past obsession, I now present
The Rain Barrel Extremely
Digestible
Zine Bookshelf
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The
World of Zines : A Guide to the Independent Magazine Revolution (1992)
Zine reviews are grouped
under such headings as "Fringe Culture", "Music" and "Hobbies & Collecting"
and are interspersed with illustrations from said zines. Advice and resources
for starting your own zine are also included. Street Cred: Founded
the bible of zines, Factsheet5. Capsule review: As most zines don't
last more than three issues, a directory to zines has a very short shelf
life. Didn't age well. Luckily,
Mike now 'blogs. |
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'zine
(1995)
The blurb describes
it quite well: "For six years, I published a magazine all about myself.
In it, I documented everything from my dreadlocks hair care tips to the
antics of my roommate's pet pig to my travails as a struggling fiction
writer. The magazine was a little Xeroxed, stapled together thing that
I handed out to friends and acquaintances - but it changed my life. I began
publishing it in an effort to procrastinate, to trick people into liking
me, to get dates, to turn myself into a star, and to transform my boring
life into an epic story. And the scary thing was. it worked." Street
cred factor: six years in the wilderness; has since published novels.
Capsule review: it's good, it's honest, and shows how a zinester
can turn one life into a literary character or even a subpop star. Oh yeah,
Pagan's wired too. |
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Zines
Volume I (1996)
The reputable RE/Search:Vsearch
publishing house tackles zines the same way it approaches all its other
cultural subjects: lengthy interviews with the creators. The authors of
Thrift Score, Beer Frame, Crap Hound, Housewife Turned Assassin, Meat Hook,
X-Ray, Mystery Date, AK Distribution, Outpunk, Fat Girl, and Bunnyhop speak
out. Street cred factor: RE/Search: V Search Publishing has truckloads
brother. Capsule review: a great way to learn what drives people
to create zines or at least to learn what they look like. |
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Zines
Volume II (1997)
More interviews with
the creators of Dishwasher Pete, Temp Slave, McJob, Revolutionary Knitting
Circle, Aim Your Dick, Slant, Eight-Track Mind, Tiki News, Arthur Cravan,
Bruno Richard, International Mail Art, It's a Wonderful Lifestyle, and
Murder Can Be Fun. What I Learned: Candi Strecker, creator of It's A Wonderful
Lifestyle, has been doing zines since 1979. Since she graduated from library
school, I may add. |
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The
Book of Zines (1997)
Chip lets the zines
speak for themselves as the book is comprised from many short excerpts
from many different zines. Street cred factor: author of Chip's
Closet Cleaner; works for a real magazine (Playboy), keeps the zine faith
with his website.
Capsule review:
It makes for a very strange, but entertaining anthology. You don't really
learn that much about zines, but learning by example is the zine way of
doing things anyway. |
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The
Factsheet Five Zine Reader (1997)
It seems that Seth learned
from his predecessor's book to concentrate on zine excepts as opposed to
zine reviews. Street cred factor: another past editor of Factsheet
Five. Capsule review: Like The Book of Zines, but with fewer but
longer excerpts and with a greater variety of sources. It would have a
good zine book - in any other year than 1997. |
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Notes
from Underground : Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture (1997)
Unlike all the previous
zine books, this one is dedicated to analysis of the zine scene. The gist
of the book: "radical culture" - by itself - doesn't really challenge the
powers that be. Street cred factor: Stephen is an associate professor
who just happens to write regularly for the Baffler. Capsule Review:
I really love it. There's enough analysis going on to encourage a rethinking
of zines and its done with a minimum of coaching the language in acadamese. |
It took a while, but
finally I no longer have the drive to buy books on zines. At least I have
a nice collection to donate to some library in the future.
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