#i should get back into zines

[himbopunk]

bro every time someone on etsy asks me how i make patches i get so excited i fucking love sharing resources and helping people make things its cool as hell

[heartorbit]

happy halloween! 🎃🐈‍⬛👻🐇

[eggsdrawings]

shuffles in… hiiii klance!!!

[tahthetrickster]

wear your facking earplugs to music events i am no longer asking

[surreal-duck]

wanted to redraw their 7th anniversary homescreen before the next anni comes along o7

[tariah23]

Man, I still remember participating in one of the many jjba zines that I took part in and how my piece was placed as the first page (for the second time) and how one of my mutuals/artists that I’ve always admired, hit me with the “oh… you’re on the front page again… 😅…” like man, that kind of killed me lmfao. I never got over it like man, what was that about.

[uss-genderprise]

This review of First Time #5 has been in my drafts for over a year

First Times 5 was published in February of 1986 by Merry Men Press, and is, of course, the fifth issue of First Time. It boasts 193 pages, 7 fics, 12 poems, and 7 drawings (not including the covers). It's spiral bound, which isn't my favourite but gets the job done nonetheless.

First impressions are very easy because I pulled this out of my box of fanzines and was immediately smacked in the face by Kirk's naked ass. The cover art is pretty nice but quite shocking. The back cover is weirdly proportioned and that doesn't look like the most comfortable position but okay. It starts with a poem before the editorial, which is unusual. The editorial itself is pretty funny, as the editor suggests that all trekkers band together and buy shares of Paramount to control what the company makes - very let's buy tumblr vibes.

Warnings: rape, non consensual drug use, mild sex.

Disclaimer: as usual, all of this is my personal opinion and should not be taken as an attack on anyone involved in this zine.

A Thought for Christmas

by Ellen Thacher

Christmas fics my belothed. It's hard to enjoy them when I keep thinking that both Kirk and Spock are Jewish. Thankfully, Spock also doesn't seem to like it. In the very first paragraph I already found two punctuation errors, which did not bode well for the rest of this zine, though I found no others. The fic was pretty sweet. 4/5

Logical Decisions

by Faille

It only took one page for me to be certain that Kirk and Spock would end up stranded on some planet with Spock entering pon farr, and I was soon proven correct, even if it happened in a slightly different way than I had expected. I'm not complaining, I like this trope. This is a long one, and it's mostly romantic, mushy, lovey-dovey stuff (in the best way possible) interspersed with some light humour. Plenty of relationship negotiations, which is always a plus. The only complaint I have (other than the considerable amount of typos) is that it made me crave apricots, and they're currently out of season. 5/5

On Our Beach

by Vera Barga

After Pike leaves the Enterprise Spock takes shore leave and tries to go somewhere quiet. On the same night, Kirk is enjoying his last night before becoming Captain. They meet in a casino and hit it off (if you know what I mean) and are then surprised to meet again on the Enterprise. They take it slow and eventually become lovers again.

People say you should sandwich the bad things in between good things but I have to get this out of the way: as a trans nonbinary person reading fics from the 80's is hell. It's all "male" and "female" and being into "males" or "females" and "women are exotic and strange". This is literally my only complaint for this fic and it's incredibly common in this era but in this one it was even more heavy-handed than usual. Other than that I had fun though. I like how important the explicit consent was, how at no point either of them tried to pressure the other and even went out of their way to point it out. I liked it. 4.5/5

The High Price of Love

by Ann

Spock disappears and Starfleet considers him a deserter. Kirk, of course, can't believe that, and keeps looking for him. It takes six months and Bones dragging him to a brothel to find Spock, selling his body to feed his addiction to an aphrodisiac. Turns out he was kidnapped by Orion slavers, addicted to this drug to "train" him as a sex slave, and sold to this brothel. Kirk and McCoy rescue him and help him fight off his addiction. There is a lot to unpack here.

As far as stories with this kind of premise go, the relationship between Kirk and Spock was natural, fairly pre-established, and fully consensual. McCoy played a fairly big part, which I personally greatly enjoy, and even had some heavily subtextual scenes with Spock, which I enjoyed even more (Spones? In my K/S zine? It's more likely than you think).

Graphic descriptions of rape were graphic, graphic depictions of consensual, romantic sex were less so. All in all, not too bad. 4/5

High Time

by Jenny

Kyle's bachelor party is made infinitely more interesting by someone slipping a drug that lowers inhibitions into some people's drinks. Scotty tells terrible jokes, Sulu does a strip tease, and Kirk seduces Spock. A great time is had by all - except McCoy, who wakes up with a hangover.

Honestly, I had a great time reading this. Despite drugs being involved everything was fully consensual, and Kirk and Spock were incredibly sweet. I also liked Scotty's joke, even if it was quite long-winded. 5/5

Where You Find It

by Zoey Brook

Kirk and Spock get stranded on a planet crawling with Klingons and are forced to hide in a cave and huddle for warmth, while a mysterious, empathic, shape-changing entity attempts to help them and learn from them.

I tend to like "stranded on a planet" stories. They're not usually my favourite, but when they're well done they can be spectacular. Personally, I felt that despite the interesting premise, this one was somewhat lacking. There was so much more that could have been done with it. 4/5

The Wall

by Kathy Tipton

Apparently, every five years Starfleet forces their officers to do a "check-up" which involves potentially risking their lives in a very harsh environment. Kirk and Spock are lucky enough to go together. They nearly fall off a cliff and get attacked by a vicious animal, and then they have sex for the first time while waiting for rescue before Spock dies from blood loss.

And despite all that (or maybe because of it?) I enjoyed this fic. I like the angst, I like the descriptions, the smut wasn't bad, and it had a happy ending. What more could I ask for? 4.5/5

Final thoughts

Pretty enjoyable zine, all in all. I think it has the highest typo count of any zine I've read so far, but most of them were pretty unobtrusive. The little art there was is all very nice, and the poems were generally more to my taste than in other zines I've read. I hate the comb binding, but I think that's pretty universal. I didn't actively hate reading it, which is good enough for me.

[ratfest]

EPIC NEWS… I FINALLY HAVE MY SHOP OPEN AND HAVE RESTOCKED THE HIT CLASSIC™️ ITEM : THE PRISON REALM GOJO SHAKER…

get yours today at my (finally open) etsy… (along with various other things…)

[fairyfleshprison]

Got my blood taken today, got told I had good veins. Absolutely winning at the doctor. I'm the best at getting my blood taken

[barkingbarghest]

New house new room new shelf situation. I'm really pleased with it, to the point where I'll just look at my shelves and my stuff and be pleased.

It's nice to look at all my little things and think about what has stayed with me. I remember times and people when I look at them. Like the tennis racket duck that my college roommate gave me, or how upset my mom was that she accidentally broke the TARDIS plate I made in high school. The Overwatch Nerf pistol that I shoot my roommate with.

[day-mark]

this piece im doing for a collab is gonna look so epic in my head . i dotn know how to draw 9/10 of these things im including .

[cosmik-homo]

Honestly i really do know im being annoying with this but the logistics of swapping out Avon and Raistlin and watching what theh do is the greatest form of Playing With Dolls I've ever ever had. Its a serotonin treadmill. You've heard of watching a brilliant, dark tortured genius asshole slowly create his own downfall what about landing in the middle of such a slipperyslope and starting to turn it into an entirely different one. AND THERE'S PVP ALLOWED, one of my main options rn is Avon-as-Raistlin starts planning how to re-open the connection and either undo this or pass some more things between the worlds- and Raistlin-as-Avon is like FINDERS KEEPERS BITCH. Paying It (The Lichdom Curse) Forewards, im staying in your life and im winning at it, fuck off. And Avon's like, ex-fucking-scuse me?

[monty-glasses-roxy]

For some reason, this round of meds (same dose and everything as last time) is making me have very violent Realisations and Remembering Things moments. And by that I mean the Thing I Forgot and/or the Realisations show up with a bat and see how hard they can make my brain hit the wall. So anyway.

YOU GUYS REMEMBER SPIKE THE WETFLOOR BOT??? YOU GUYS REMEMBER HER??? THE FIRST FAZBEAR ANIMATRONIC TO BE BORN FROM LOVE INSTEAD OF PAIN??? YOU REMEMBER HER???

CAUSE I JUST DID

[dandyshucks]

the difference btwn irl and online perspective on creativity is so funny to me and idk if I'll ever get used to the stark contrast of it all.

IRL when I mention that I draw and write, people act like I'm some super talented creative genius(???). they don't seem to understand the concept of OCs, and if I try to vaguely touch on my DL project they get visibly overwhelmed no matter how simple I make it for them, and eventually they settle on just insisting that I need to publish traditionally and monetize on it. they don't seem to have the ability to understand the concept of zines and immersive storytelling through non-traditional means.

but then i get online and I'm just another drop in the ocean and always a very mediocre drop at that LMAO, I constantly fight with myself to feel like there is any sort of value to my stories and art, and there's hundreds of people doing the sort of thing that I do but even better than I could ever dream of doing!

it's just so strange going from interacting with this online to IRL, I feel like I'm getting whiplash from being largely ignored or scoffed at online (which I'm fine with btw lol I grew up with that in my family and now I get nervous when I get too much attention) to people at the centre treating me like I'm some kind of artistic genius who cannot be understood because I'm too far above their level 😭

[onebarofsoap]

hi everybody, here’s a preview for my mafuyu piece in the Our Sekai zine on twitter! 👍 preorders are now open, so check it out here if you’re interested! >>   oursekaizine.carrd.co/#preorder 

[chaotictomtom]

this month's rough i might absolutely need to do commissions