zines / bouncy ball

Bouncy Ball #1 is an eclectic and wonderful compilation that earns its name as it bounces to everything from comics to interviews to poetry to prose to art to photographs to word puzzles and more.

Excerpt from "Potential Last Words" by Paul Beer:

If Oscar Wilde's last words really were, "either those curtains go or I do," they were almost certainly prepared in advance. Maybe the quip was originally written for one of his characters and Wilde, realizing he'd captured lightning in a bottle, decided to save it for his own final moments. Since good last words are too important to be left to improv, I've decided to script pithy one-liners for as many potential deaths as I can. A partial list follows:

"I just can't seem to stop smoking." - I've been set on fire.

"Hold on, I think he's trying to communicate." - A chimp is mauling me.

"The real tragedy here? I liked 'Blues Brothers 2000." - Murdered by John Goodman.

Bouncy Ball #1 (Toronto, ON)
$2.50 / compzine / half-page / 24 pages / 2010

zines / go, ratray, go

From the author, Rue Diego Ratray:

Here is issue #2 of Go, Ratray, Go, Pedal/Medal (get it?). These stories have been written over the past year. They are all about running and cycling. This isn't good writing, but it is heartfelt, which can be better sometimes. Issue #1 was Head/Heel, but there was only one copy of that, for Kim, and yr not her, so no dice.

Excerpt from "You Will Run Forever":

Teachers started cursing me from a young age. Not cursing at me, that happened later, but an old-fashioned curse, setting your destiny in stone, fait accompli. Most adults believe in magic and curses and luck. If you don't believe me, go watch people play that computerized horse race the lottery runs in convenience stores. If adults are susceptible, then kids are doomed. I fell for it every time.

Go, Ratray, Go #2 - Pedal/Medal (Jamaica Plain, MA)
$3.00 / perzine / half-page / 48 pages / 2010

Go, Ratray, Go Blog

zines / concisely

A unique and assorted mix of short prose, from the hilarious to the bittersweet to the heartbreaking to the though-provoking, issue three of Concisely includes contributions from writers across the USA and Australia and is edited by Daniel Copulsky.

Contents:

Rumbling by Justin Edwards:

Michael woke up next to Bobby, who was gripping the sheets to keep from falling off the twin mattress. Michael immediately wished he hadn't turned on the light.

A Sister's Burden by Shannon Schuren:

I remember the feel in my hand. Heavy, pliant, velvety soft up to the stinging slap of impact; the cool explosion against heated skin.

Pleasure's Past by Kevin Brown:

She closes her eyes and feels the back of his middle finger trace the contour of her cheek. Feels the tickle of his knuckle wind down the cords of her neck.

Homeward Bound by Craig W. Steele:

"Screw him," she said, tucking her wallet back into her jacket pocket. "He hasn't just been dumped by the love of his life."

Adonis on the M104 by Mike DiChristina:

She stood next to him on the bud. Pleased that the crowd had compressed personal space, closeness rendering her invisible, she quietly savored his beauty.

A College Education by John Wilmes:

The creative writing teacher told us stories of losing himself, of spending three years in solitary study of geometry.

Shark's Teeth by Suvi Mahonen:

She was swimming underwater.
She had to swim further than anyone else because if she won this race, Derek would die.

Focus and Shoot by John Hayes:

"Is that a real mountain, Dad?" My eight-year-old son demands to know.
"It looks more like a very steep hill to me." I focus my camera and shoot a treacherous path that twists upward before us.

concisely: magazine of short prose #3 (Chicago, IL)
$3.00 / litzine / half-page / 24 pages / Summer 2010

ConciselyMagazine.com

zines / blue okoye!

"It’s not a comic, it’s a zine about a guy trying to teach himself how to draw comics, or generally about that struggle we all have to face, sooner or later, to figure for ourselves out what means the most in life...." - from author Uzodinma Okehi

Excerpt:

I was already half-hearted about playing pranks, I knew better, but the other side of it was a day-job boredom like a caged-up, tranquilized tiger, that is, gimmie something. Don was another East Village refugee, a real droner, on and on, about conspiracies, the government and whatnot. He wasn't even talking to me most of the time, yet I still somehow wanted to plunge a stake in his heart. Instead of that, I bought one of those rubber bouncing balls.

Blue Okoye! #1 (Brooklyn, NY)
$1.00 / litzine / half-page / 22 pages / 2009

zines / out of the city and into the trees

"I first moved out into the woods, to live in a treehouse on a protest site when I was 16, and I've kept diaries, pretty much ever since. This zine is the start of those writings..."

So begins this perzine, exploring diary entries and poetry written out "into the trees."

Excerpt:

After about 45 minutes I got cold and had to get dressed again. Traffic was suddenly pouring into the base so it was time to take action. Me and one friend locked onto each other and lay across the road - blocking traffic for about 20 minutes and causing tailbacks. They cut off our lock on tube and I lay limp on the ground. I was struggling as four cops picked me up - as they threw me in the van I was told I would be charged with resisting arrest as well as breach of peace, I just cheered, which seemed to piss them off. Smile on my face and everything - they dragged me across the street, me singing power to the people - they couldn't break me on a day like that. Never surrender, never give in.

Out of the City and into The Trees # 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland)
$2.00 / perzine / half-letter / 52 pages / 2010

zines / mélange

Mélange #2: Sensualist is a beautiful and tongue-in-cheek journey through one's relationship with sustenance and alcohol. From the 5 senses of wine to anatomizing a hangover, Sandy's meditations on food and drink are both entertaining and enlightening in their exploration of what food means to us and how it connects us with each other.

Excerpt from 'tasting notes':

I asked him whether the weather would make a difference to our wine.

"Yes, of course," he replied. "Weather, soil quality, rainfall..."

"So, if there's a drought, or a war, or a volcano erupting in the Philippines - does that all affect the taste?"

A pause. He concluded: "That's what appreciating wine & food is about. Everything is connected, and what you get is like a snapshot of what's going on in the world." Then ate the last scoop of peanut butter.

Mélange # 2: Sensualist (Perth, Australia)
$2.00 / food/perzine / half-letter / 32 pages / 2009-2010