#it’s about queer literature and publishing and zines

[ali-ali-al1]

Doing my EPQ (extended project qualification, UK thing) about queer history is great, apart from the fact that every time I try and sit down to research I end up on the verge of tears

Big Feelings Babey 👍

[genderqueerdykes]

in searching for queer books to borrow from my library, i realized something. it is very important to read what publications are there, however, when folks ask me for book recommendations on certain queer identities, it becomes difficult, because publishing books, zines, and other writings is difficult while queer.

in many places in the world it is quite literally illegal to publish any queer material whatsoever. in other places it is so heavily stigmatized it is overwhelming for many. some queers don't have a talent for writing, and that's okay. a lot of queers live turbulent, busy, and often dangerous lives. it's hard to write when you have a lot going on in your personal life, especially when it comes to transmisogyny, transandrophobia, biphobia, and other big queer issues.

in many places in the world, outing one's self as a trans woman or transfemme could result in death. it would be extremely risky to publish something talking about lived experiences in places where trans women & femmes are constantly in danger. in many places in the world, this same struggle affects trans men, and other trans people. it can be literally a matter of life and death to publish writings or art about one's queerness depending on geographic location and circumstance

also, getting something published and distributed takes time and money, something many folks don't have. many people do not have access to queer charities or organizations that will help them publish. many people can't get an editor. many lose access to their computers, phones, files, electricity, internet, and other resources. many become homeless, or encounter housing insecurity. many queer people unfortunately live very short lives.

many intersex people don't get to even discuss our experiences, let alone write and publish them. many intersex people had procedures done to them and ages far too young to remember- and paperwork stating what ACTUALLY happened is generally totally unavailable. many intersex people live their entire lives not knowing they're intersex. there's a huge deficit on literature when it comes to intersex experiences and lives and it's because we're actively being silenced

it's not to say publications aren't out there, and i'm not going to start posting recommendations, but if you can't find a lot of published books on a certain queer identity, it's because that it's hard to write about queer experiences in general and get them published and distributed. keep searching, but if you can't find what you're looking for at a book store or library, try finding anecdotes, stories, comics, zines and other writings from people online. people talking about their experiences online is credible. not for citing as a source in a paper, but it is just as valuable as anecdotes published in a book.

[crimethinc]

Vortext and Terror Incognita

https://store.crimethinc.com/products/vortext-and-terror-incognita

A decade ago, in the wake of the Occupy movement and a new wave of interest in queer and insurrectionist anarchism, we published this two-zine set as a venue for experimental thinking and the creative arts. To bring the whimsy of 2012 into dialogue with the calamities of the present, we've prepared a new limited printing of them.

Terror Incognita is a three-part argument for rejecting all fixed conceptions of identity in favor of a bold departure into the unknown. It challenges conventional notions about consent, violence, sexuality, desire, and freedom, pushing the discourse about these subjects far outside familiar territory.

Vortext is a joyous, absurdist, and outré rampage between the poles of philosophy, literature, and performance art. It has a strong personality. Whatever you're imagining, it's weirder than that.

Together, they make for a total of 148 pages of reading.

[duckprintspress]

Meet the Contributors to Our Next Anthology!

The time has come: we're ready to share the contributor list for our forthcoming anthology Aim For The Heart: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Alexandre Dumas's "The Three Musketeers"!

For this collection, 15 artists and 21 authors have created fanart, original art, fanfiction, and original fiction inspired by the adventures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d'Artagnan. We have been hard at work on this anthology since last fall, and we're anticipating a crowdfunding launch in late spring or early summer. We'll have lots of teasers, excerpts, a cover reveal, merchandise announcements, and more to come, but first - meet the creators!

Artists

Aceriee: Hi! I’m Aceriee and I draw sometimes. I’ve been drawing all my life, but after falling into the Supernatural fandom in 2014 I’ve mostly focused on fanart. (Instagram | Tumblr | Twitter)

Cris Alborja: I’m an illustration and comic artist from Spain. I’ve got a nursing degree, but I decided to pursue my passion. I have studied Illustration at EASD Pablo Picasso in A Coruña and comics at O Garaxe Hermético in Pontevedra. I have done cover art for an anthology called Infiniteca by Retranca Editorial and comics for Altar Mutante, Nai dos Desterrados, and Abraxas en Cuarentena fanzines, as well as in Gaspariño 21 by Retranca Editorial. (Instagram)

bloomingtea: Téa is a hypothetical writer and artist, a professional procrastinator, and a merch hoarder. When they aren’t working on personal projects, they moderate zines and bake the same loaf of bread over and over again. From their pile of WIPs, they’ve managed to self-publish one book and are currently working on other manuscripts to eventually release into the world. Until then, they remain the worst gamer on Twitch and like to spend their free time ranting about books and thinking about fictional lawyer video games. (Personal Website | Twitter)

C: A massive drinker of coffee and a lover of old TV shows and movies, C is a small-time concept artist and illustrator who likes to dabble in all things literature and history. When she’s not busy drawing and nodding along to Bruce Springsteen while researching the Kentucky Cave Wars, she’s trying to save up for grad school to become to a forensic artist so she can draw some more. (Tumblr)

Amy Fincher: Amy Fincher (she/her) is a producer and artist with over a dozen years of experience in the video game and animation industries. She has contributed to various AAA and indie titles, including the Civilization, XCOM, and Skylanders series. Amy is currently working on Open Roads as Executive Producer. When the mood strikes and time allows, she teaches art classes and takes on art commissions on the side. Her hobbies include learning aerial silks, collecting aesthetically pleasing empty containers, looking at shiny rocks, and taking very long naps.

Kou Lukeman: Kou Lukeman is an artist, composer, writer, and video-game developer. His long-term goal is to someday lead a video-game company that makes video games by queer and neurodivergent people. Kou identifies as queer, neurodivergent, and is proud to be both. He is an avid Final Fantasy 14 player, a huge Kingdom Hearts fan, and video games have inspired Kou to create from a very young age. While his main creative interests tend to be in queer and neurodivergent horror, Kou also dabbles in fantasy as a genre. He is currently working on releasing his first few games and a graphic horror novel about neurodiversity and queer people in society. (Instagram)

Giulia Malagoli:

Giulia Malagoli (she/they) got into art because of generally friendly competition with a classmate in middle school, and now she has an entire Bachelor’s Degree in Concept Art to show for it. 

For about ten years, she has been hopping through fandom spaces—from video games, to comics, to movies and TV series—and has drawn inspiration from each of them for both fan and original art. The result is a passion for character design and for art that weaves a story into its visuals, with a whole lot of feelings about the role of The Narrative to boot. 

To chase this passion Giulia has moved from their home country of Italy to the United Kingdom and back again. They now work as a freelance illustrator with enthusiasm, always scraping some time at the end of the day to keep up with fandom friends. (ArtStation | Twitter)

MidnightSilver: I’m MidnightSilver (They/Them). I’m a freelance artist who specialises in fandom art, most often inspired by Supernatural the TV show, and I can usually be found illustrating stories for independent authors—my favourites are those that combine adventure/magic/horror with a boatload of feels! As a bi, non-binary, mixed-race person, I don’t believe in restrictive boundaries, and I love tales that highlight diversity and freedom of expression while at the same time incorporating the fantastical and magical elements that I fell in love with when reading stories as a child. It’s my aim to take all the many wondrous worlds and people with whom we visit when lost in book pages at 2 o’clock in the morning and to share them with you in visual form. It’s a project I never tire of pursuing. (Archive of Our Own | deviantArt)

Queen Sponge Studios: Thanks for reading my bio! My name is Sponge, and I use they/them pronouns! I am currently studying for a Game Arts degree through online courses at SNHU. Along with working at a thrift store, I enjoy working on projects with others. Based in Northern Wisconsin, I majorly entertain myself through art and media pertaining to it. On the long list of my hobbies, I enjoy staying active as well as collecting. I am an avid, crazed Sanrio fanatic with a long list of fandoms dating all the way back to when I was ten. I may be more reserved, but I love making new connections through creation! Meeting like-minded individuals working toward a common goal has been the most fulfilling experience I have had to date. As a young artist, I have dabbled in vending at conventions, game art, and selling my own merchandise online. I hope to one day fully chase after my ambitions of artistry full-time through a studio! Thank you for your support and interest in my work! (Etsy | Instagram | TikTok)

Jennifer Smith: Smith has been drawing since a young age. With a focus in traditional drawing techniques, she has recently started using digital mediums to imitate traditional styles. Her focus is in portraiture and landscapes, especially with watercolor. You can find more of her art on her Tumblr. (Tumblr)

Toby.exe: Freelance Animator and Illustrator based in the UK. He/They LGBTQ+ friendly little goblin who plays excessive amounts of DnD and loves to play Live Action Roleplay events all over the country! If I am not at home drawing, I am out and about playing a variety of fantasy characters in the woods and hitting people with silly foam swords. (Personal Website | Instagram | Patreon | Twitter)

Jupiter V: Hailing from Kjipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia (that’s in Canada), Jupiter V is an artist, musician, and creative crackerjack with a career spanning over a decade. Cutting their teeth designing award-winning gig posters, they’ve gone on to illustrate for film, graphic fiction, children’s literature, and more. At times, they have been caught painting murals at the circus (?!) and whooping their child mercilessly in Rivals of Aether. 

Jupiter is currently toiling away at their next graphic work of fiction, Wizards 99k, as we speak. (Instagram)

Amy Alexander Weston: Alex, AKA foxymoley, (she/her) is best described as a jack of all trades, but practices digital art more than anything else. She just wants to make things and change the world for the better. (Archive of Our Own | Instagram | Tumblr)

Amalia Zeichneren: Amalia Zeichnerin (she/her) lives in Hamburg, Germany. She is a disabled queer woman with a chronic illness and lives in a polyam polycule. Amalia mostly writes original fiction (SFF, cosy Victorian mysteries, Queer Romance) in German and has also one English Star Wars fan fiction on AO3, with one of her favorite shippings, StormPilot. Amalia also likes to draw and paint, especially fantasy world maps, character portraits, and sometimes also fanart. Amalia’s hobbies include pen-and-paper RPG and LARPing; these also have inspired some of her writing and artworks. (Linktree)

Jagoda Zirebiec: Hiya! I’m Jagoda or MizuShiba. I am a game dev artist currently working on a few unannounced titles. In my spare time I love to join collaborative projects like this, or charity Zines. This is my first project with DPP and hopefully not last! 

I’m located in Poland and currently live here with my family. Aside from art, I’m interested in collecting dice and playing ttrpgs with friends. (ArtStation | Tumblr | Twitter)

Authors

Len Amin: Len Amin was brought up living between worlds in her small suburban town in the Midwest throughout the year, and summering frequently to visit her Palestinian Family living in the West Bank. Her family is larger-than-life in true Arabian fashion, including a very prissy puppy named Charles who refuses to sleep alone and chews up all of her sister’s barbie dolls. Though never quite feeling like she belonged in either world, she instead fell in love with the stories with the people that resided in these places—how the humanity can be found so effortlessly if one just delved that bit deeper into someone’s “once upon a time.” Etching down words into her flower-printed journals and shuffling a fresh spread from her star-printed tarot deck for her friends were always her way to connect to someone and to open up that channel of understanding. Len is now about to hit her mid-twenties, and has nothing to lose as she strives for her Social Work degree while also focusing on her true passion of writing her first full-length novel. You can find the updates on her writing journey, and support her endeavors on her Tumblr page. (Archive of Our Own | Tumblr | Twitter)

Aria L. Deair: Aria L. Deair is an author who has been writing and (while cursing her excessive comma usage) publishing fanfiction online for more than sixteen years. Freelance writer by day and author every other hour that she isn’t sleeping, she spends her days courting carpal tunnel and “forgetting” to wear her wrist brace.

As a proud member of more fandoms than she can count, Aria can be found blogging about some of the writing that she is avoiding doing at arialerendeair.tumblr.com.

Like a dragon with her hoard, she can be found in her New Hampshire apartment, surrounded by notebooks (most of which are empty), half-filled mugs of tea, and some of the comfiest blankets that have ever existed. Disturb her at your own risk, especially during NaNo Season. (Discord: Dragon#5555 | Tumblr | Twitter)

E. V. Dean: E. V. Dean is a writer with a decade of fanfiction writing under her belt. She’s embarking on her original fiction adventure with the angst tag kept within arm’s reach. Her favorite excuse not to write is watching Jeopardy. (Instagram | Tumblr)

Rhosyn Goodfellow: Rhosyn Goodfellow is an author of queer romance and speculative fiction living with her spouse and two dogs in the Pacific Northwest, where she is sad to report that she has not yet mysteriously disappeared or encountered any cryptids. Her hobbies include spoiling the aforementioned dogs, drinking inadvisable amounts of coffee, and running unreasonably long distances very slowly. She’s secretly just a collection of loosely-related stories dressed up in a meat suit. (Personal Website | Instagram | Mastodon | Tumblr | Twitter)

Catherine E. Green: Catherine E. Green (pronouns: xe/xem/xyr or they/them/their) is an agender person, one who’s had an on-again, off-again love affair with writing. Xe began writing when xe was a wee thing, when xyr other major pastimes were playing xyr mother’s NES and roughhousing with the boys next door. It’s only in the past few years that they have begun writing consistently and publishing their writing, fanfiction and original writing alike, leading to their first published short story titled “Of Loops and Weaves.” 

Outside of writing, xe is a collector of books and sleep debt and an avid admirer of the cosmos. Playing video games, reading a variety of fiction genres (primarily fantasy, queer romance, and manga and graphic novels of all kinds), and working on wrangling their own personal data archiving projects occupy most of their free time. Xe has also started meeting up with a local fiber arts group and is excited to be crocheting xyr first scarf.

J. D. Harlock: J.D. Harlock is a Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian writer and editor based in Beirut. In addition to his posts at Wasifiri, as an editor-at-large, and at Solarpunk Magazine, as a poetry editor, his writing has been featured in Strange Horizons, Star*Line, and the SFWA Blog. You can always find him on Twitter and Instagram posting updates on his latest projects. (Instagram | Twitter)

A. L. Heard: A. L. Heard is an aspiring writer from Pittsburgh. She’s been writing fanworks for over a decade and self-published her first novel, Hockey Bois, in 2021. Some of her short stories have been published through the indie press Duck Prints Press, where she also contributes as an editor. Ultimately, though, she spends her free time writing about characters she adores in worlds she’d like to explore: contemporary romance, historical fiction, science fiction, and fantasy. In between writing projects, she works as a language teacher, plays hockey, tours breweries with her boyfriend, and spends her evenings playing dinosaurs with her two sons. (Instagram | Twitter)

D. A. Hernández: AKA Mitch, an author who works as a teacher, reads fanfiction compulsively, tells anyone who will listen about their weird dreams, takes long naps, and once in a while manages to write a story or two. You can find another of their stories in the Duck Prints Press anthology She Wears the Midnight Crown. 

Mitch’s playlist includes metal, pop, electronic, bluegrass, reggaeton and cumbia. (Twitter)

R. L. Houck: R. L. Houck (she/her) still has one of the first stories she ever wrote, all the way back from elementary school. It was about flightless penguins reaching the sun and was a good indication of her boundless imagination and her love of animals. The latter became a full-time veterinary career; the former keeps her occupied with fanfiction and original fiction in her downtime. 

She’s sometimes found wandering the woods around her house in Virginia with her dog. If not there, she’s sitting on the couch, catching up on a Netflix series, and smothered by her five cats. Sometimes, there’s even space for her wife. (TikTok)

Lucy K. R.: Lucy K.R. (she/her) is technically in existence. Every time she is free, she writes. Sometimes when she is not free she also writes. This has occasionally created problems. She is fortunate to be supported (read: enabled) by her enthusiastic fiancée Tomo, a loving OG family, and a lively found family as well.

Eager for a change after a decade of waitressing, Lucy K.R. took the chance in March of 2021 to make her first steps into the world of published work. Prior to the success of the largely-fabricated German translation of the short-story found in this collection, ‘die Karaoke-Königinnen’, she was best known for her work on Mageling: Rise of the Ancient Ones and in the Duck Prints Press anthologies “And Seek (Not) to Alter Me” and “She Wears the Midnight Crown”.

In her stories, Lucy K. enjoys writing evil ideas as gently as possible, portrayed through unexpected lenses. She would like to acknowledge that she has never written a biographical statement that did not turn out weird, beg your indulgence, and express her hope that you enjoy her work in this anthology. The people at Duck Prints Press have been a delight, and she is deeply grateful to be included! (Personal Website | Twitter)

Aeryn Jemariel Knox: Aeryn Jemariel Knox first identified as a writer in second grade. With both parents involved in theater and a house full of bookshelves, they grew up surrounded by stories, and as soon as they could hold a crayon, they felt the urge to tell their own. In 2001, they discovered the wide and wonderful world of fanfiction; since then, they have gone by Jemariel in fandom spaces across the internet, engaging with their favorite media and communities in the best way they know. Previous fandoms include Harry Potter, Star Trek (The Original Series), Torchwood, and BBC’s Sherlock, but their most prolific writing and strongest community ties are in the Supernatural fandom. Now, nearly a decade after their last original fiction attempt, Aeryn is eager to explore the wider writing word. 

A native of Portland, Oregon, Aeryn currently lives in the suburbs with their husband and 16-year-old cat. For a day job, they work as a tech writer and general paper-pusher for an energy drink factory. Their favorite stories, both to tell and to read, are stories about love, identity, and magic. (Archive of Our Own | Tumblr)

Annabeth Lynch: Annabeth Lynch is a genderfae (she/they), bisexual author who writes mostly queer stories, preferring to write marginalized characters finding love. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, daughter, and two very overweight cats. (Facebook | Instagram)

Sebastian Marie: Sebastian Marie (he/him) is an engineering student with a penchant for writing off-the-wall fantasy, darkly comedic prose, and sickeningly indulgent short stories. He has a lot of opinions about dragons, pirates, and sword fighting. Track him down on Ao3 and he’ll share these opinions through fanfiction for various fandoms including BBC Merlin, The Mechanisms, and Our Flag Means Death. His original works often combine fantasy and dystopia into what he calls “queer fantasy hopepunk,” something that will be explored in his future novels. He loves to write conflicting traditional and non-traditional family dynamics, especially where they intersect with queer relationships. And if he can throw werewolves and brujas into the mix? So much the better. When not writing, frantically studying dirt, or reading, he can be found singing loudly, sewing impractical coats, playing Dungeons and Dragons, and going on long rambling walks while plotting stories (and occasionally falling into rivers). 

This is his second time writing for Duck Prints Press, having previously contributed to She Wears the Midnight Crown. This brings his grand total of published works up to two! He’s looking forward to more, as soon as he gets some sleep. (Archive of Our Own | Tumblr)

Nova Mason: Nova Mason spent a significant portion of her childhood fantasizing about dragons, spaceships, and other worlds. She is now, allegedly, a grown-up, with two kids, and more varied interests. Dragons, spaceships, and other worlds are still pretty high in the list, though.

Sage Mooreland: Sage Mooreland (they/them) is a city-dwelling gremlin from Chicago. They are embarking on the adventure that is their 40s equipped with three amazing partners, one very ridiculous eighteen-year-old biological offspring, and a fleet of teenagers and twentysomethings that adopted them through work over the last several years. Sage put themselves through the torture of grad school, and now holds a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in English and Creative Writing – Fiction, to which they say, “Now I have expensive pieces of paper that make it seem like I know what I’m talking about.” 

Sage has been writing since they were wee small, entering their first writing contest in fifth grade/at ten years old. In high school and college, they made small offerings to school literary magazines, and have done eighteen years of National Novel Writing Month. As their writing career grows, they hope to provide stories that are entertaining, caring, inclusive of all, and full of the stuff of which dreams are made. 

D. V. Morse: D. V. Morse (she/her) is a writer of fantasy and science fiction, generally (though not always) with some romance in there somewhere. She’s been in various aspects of healthcare for a couple of decades, most recently nursing. A lifelong New Englander who has been writing for as long as she can remember, she loves to find the liminal spaces in the local landscape and find the stories lurking within. She also loves playing with fiber arts, cycling through knitting, crochet, cross-stitch, and blackwork. She has also contributed to “Stand Where You’re Afraid,” in I Am the Fire, a limited edition charity anthology by a collective of SF/F romance authors raising funds for the National Network of Abortion Funds. (Carrd | Blog | Twitter | Facebook )

MouMouSanRen: MouMouSanRen (she/her) was born and raised on unceded Matinecock territory in what is now known as Flushing, New York. She has been published in multiple non-fiction magazines including Polygon. Aim for the Heart is her fiction debut. She resides in her native Queens, practicing martial arts and taking care of her dogs. (Twitter)

J. D. Rivers: J. D. writes speculative fiction where they fall deeply and madly in love and find a dead body, not necessarily in that order.

She collects hobbies as others collect books and has an unhealthy addiction to watching competitive cooking shows.

J. D. lives close to the woods with her husband and the cutest dog in the world. (Personal Website | Twitter)

Veronica Sloane: Veronica Sloane has authored a novel, several short stories, some poetry, and twenty-two years worth of fanfic. She lives with one lovely spouse, one rambunctious clever child, and one sleepy cat. (Archive of Our Own | Tumblr)

Shea Sullivan: Shea Sullivan is a life-long writer living in upstate New York. As a late-blooming queer person, she enjoys writing about complex characters coming into themselves and finding comfort in being exactly who they are.

Shea’s day jobs in computer programming and middle management have molded her into the patient, sarcastic, big-hearted, frustrated human she is today, but it’s what she does outside the 9-5 that really excites her. When she’s not writing, she can be found painting, napping, making quilts, watching documentaries, and trying not to adopt more animals, usually with a cup of tea in hand.

Xianyu Zhou: Xianyu Zhou is a translator and aspiring garment and plushie cloning specialist hailing from a coastal city in the tropics. Despite staying a 20-minute drive away from the nearest beach, they have yet to visited one, preferring to dwell in their darkened room luminated by a table lamp and ever-shifting RGB of a CPU fan. They have the tendency to accidentally wander into new and exciting forays such as joining Duck Prints Press (and enjoying it!), learning to sew (stitching and unstitching the same part of a “coaster” for the nth time) and working on their language skills (watching shows to scruntinize take notes about how their subtitles are written). 

Xianyu’s contribution to the anthology is their first publication, and they have reportedly made a party hat for their computer to celebrate the occasion. 

We couldn't be more thrilled to have all these amazing people working with us on this collection! You're not gonna want to miss what they've written and arted!

Make sure you sign up for our monthly newsletter and/or follow us on social media to always here the latest about Aim For The Heart and our other upcoming projects! (and you can always get behind-the-scenes access on our production progress, sneak-peeks of works-in-progress, and more by backing us on Patreon!)

Who we are: Duck Prints Press LLC is an independent publisher based in New York State. Our founding vision is to help fanfiction authors navigate the complex process of bringing their original works from first draft to print, culminating in publishing their work under our imprint.

[deehollowaywrites]

2022 In Review

2022 was not a particularly fruitful year for my fictive life, somewhat intentionally; I had meant from the get-go to take some time away from the round of writing/revising/submitting short work that is endless once you've started it. I'd hoped that not sending things places would provide space for new things to percolate and bubble up, but that wasn't really the case (I suspect it wasn't for many of us). 2022 was difficult in a lot of societal and personal ways. The short fiction I had published this year were pieces sold in the previous year. A piece of 2021 work, "This Deviant Flesh," was part of a Shirley Jackson Award win for Unfettered Hexes.

I did feel freer to pitch nonfiction pieces, most of which were just predicated on a simple concept: I think this thing is cool, would you let me talk about it? I recommend it. There are a lot of well-edited websites and journals for independent entertainment critique out there. There are also a lot of cool indie presses and labels who will send you review copies for free!

I also felt freer to DIY whatever I felt like myself--this resulted in some of my longest-term and most personal projects emerging into the world. I built up my itch.io page, switching fully from Gumroad for various reasons, and added a Chill Subs profile for highlighting my work and future submission tracking. DIY publishing: Also recommended!

The 2022 item with most future significance was an acceptance from Queen of Swords Press for my alt-history novella of Weird Horse Girls and their barmaid girlfriends. More details to come! For now, 2022 in listicle:

The Book of Korinethians (zine, edited with Kristin Garth)

"Lindsay Merbaum Debuts With Liminal Horror Smash THE GOLD PERSIMMON" (interview and review, DIS/MEMBER)

"HUSH. Contemplate the Heavy Weight of Past and Future" (interview and album review, Invisible Oranges)

"Pre-Dead Bodies: A Review of EV Knight's Three Days in the Pink Tower" (Ancillary Review of Books)

Devil's Cup (novel, DIY)

"Nu-Metal Bloodbath THE RETALIATORS Doesn't Push Far Enough" (review, DIS/MEMBER)

"Blackened Literature: Castaigne Publishing Ventures Into Black Metal Horror Anthologies" (interview and review, Invisible Oranges)

"Downstairs at Dino's" (short fiction, Diabolical Plots)

"Vestal" (short fiction, Haunt/Nyx Publishing's Unthinkable: An Anthology of Queer Gothic Fiction)

Son of Perdition (short collection, DIY)

hallowzine vol. 1 (zine, DIY)

Til next year.

[book51ut]

Coexistence by Billy-Ray Belcourt

This book was excellent. It was a bunch of short stories about Indigenous queerness. I feel like Indigenous stories are the ones that I come across with the least frequency. Especially stories of queer love within Indigenous communities. While I was reading this, I spent a lot of time wondering why. Booksellers and publishers don’t contract with Indigenous authors and then, if they do, don’t promote their work. I bought this book at Bluestockings in NYC, a queer, worker-owned bookstore in NYC. They are one of the few bookstores that has an entire section dedicated to Indigenous political theory and Native stories. However, that section of the bookstore is significantly smaller than the feminist literature, Black literature, queer literature, or marxist political theory sections in the store. This is not a criticism of Bluestockings, I believe they’re doing incredibly important work. But it does pose the question: why is so much of what we read work that someone else has decided is worthy of our time and money? Bluestockings takes that initiative to put previously unheard stories in front of us, but Barnes & Noble certainly doesn’t. Being an active and critical reader means more than just reading a lot and analyzing the things you’ve read. It means actively seeking out stories your bookstore lacks. It means paying more for books because they aren’t mass-produced and are funded by individuals instead of companies. It means understanding that literature might not come in paperback format with a front and back cover, but that zines, blogs, and online writing platforms may have better and more diverse art. And that’s on us, the consumer, to seek out. Because places like Bluestockings don’t have the resources to find everything, and places like Barnes & Noble simply will not try.

[camellia-thea]

You mentioned some research you want to do in the tags of that zine post, what’s the research you’re interested in? 🩵

okay-- (and it's late and i'm a little brainfoggy, so please forgive any errors here!)

the big one, and the one i'm pottering away at is the gothic as a genre; more specifically, i'm looking at intersectionality between queerness and disability and its representation there! i'd absolutely love to dig into this as a thesis, but unfortunately study is difficult at best (<- person who is battling their health to try to go to uni, because i will graduate goddamnit)

on the former, several of the early gothic works -- carmilla (sheridan le fanu) and the monk (matthew lewis) have significant queer tones (the former is the lesbian vampire novel, and first english vampire novel to be published, and the latter has an interesting scene in which a woman crossdresses to show her affection for a man, and he is attracted to her when he thinks she is rosario), i also needn't mention dracula. given that the gothic as a genre is founded on the want to examine "taboo", whatever that forms as, it was used to examine queerness in early modern literature in really interesting ways, and this has continued into the modern genre too, in gothic and the wider horror genre.

the zine (ideally) will be comprised of essays, fiction, and have some illustrations. i have a half written essay about carmilla specifically because it's a massive interest for me (potentially my favourite book of all time). there are a few short stories in the works about disability in a horror context (werewolves are a metaphor for queerness and disability and i will die on this hill). i'll likely end up writing a few things about mike flannigan's work because it's important to me, but also because it turns some of the older genre staples onto their heads in regards to queerness (his interpretation of shirley jackson's hill house is something i want to talk about, and then bly manor and midnight mass are so good and have things i want to touch on). illustrations are sometimes media related -- i have a few carmilla things sketched because of course -- but most will end up being done in relationship with the spread they appear on.

this also is adjacent to a separate project, which is a novel about a haunted house. i think i've tagged a few things on here related to it (i think it's #the house). the basic concept is, what happens when a house begins to love its inhabitant? it takes inspiration from a lot of the earlier gothic works, obviously, and i look forward to working on it more as time progresses.

[briarrolfe]

Like, it’s fucked up that AO3 is mentioned so quickly whenever anyone asks about where to find queer romance or queer erotica. And it’s fucked up that if you say it’s fucked up you just get a “let people enjoy things!”

Over time the norm for queer fiction has shifted from small press releases, books and zines and magazines made by queers for queers, to this idea that the best queer fiction is the stuff you don’t pay for. In fact, AO3’s whole model means that if you even whisper about how fanfic writers SHOULD be able to be paid for their work, you get snowed under by people insisting that this is illegal (I do not think this is true, but even if it was—why should the whole world go unpaid according to the copyright laws in one country?)

People recommend AO3 for queer fiction over all other options. I can’t overstate how much I’ve heard this, and been told this, to my face as a queer author. It doesn’t matter that they let racism run rampant on the site, that the Board are zionists, that if you write a romance about a nonbinary person their gender can only be listed as ‘other’ and be listed with nonhumans, or that the Harry Potter fandom is the top fandom in Books & Literature to the point that it gets its own special link right up the top of the page.

I’ve been told that it’s better to read fanfiction than traditionally published books because fanfiction is a more authentic representation queer sexuality. Because the best quality queer fiction is… the stuff you don’t pay for, that’s based on straight characters from Netflix and Amazon and Disney franchises or from (god forbid) the woman who has turned her franchise income into the personal problem of every trans person on earth. Like… that’s fucked up, right? It’s fucked up. AO3 is making the whole ecosystem worse for queer creators. It’s as inescapable as single use plastic but like… at least with single use plastic people do feel a bit bad about the sea turtles

I’m truly the guy who is like “I won’t have opinions about fanfiction” (after one sip of my drink) “I think fanfiction is generally bad for the world”

[laurasimonsdaughter]

A wild (mother) goose chase for a lost fairy tale

In august 2020 Forbes published an article about how writer and illustrator Pete Jordi Wood had uncovered a “charming gay fairytale” that “has been lost for 200 years”. In particular a story where a sailor wins the hand in marriage of a handsome prince. Wood is quoted as calling it an “unbelievably and fabulously gay” plot, and: “an ancient tale with a positive portrayal, of a guy who can be read as gay or asexual, but certainly queer”.

Obviously I was wild to read it, but sadly Wood’s adaptation of the fairy tale had been published as a limited edition children’s book and virtual exhibition that I could not access. Even more disheartening, the folklore sources were not named on his website, and his research was only available in a limited edition essay collection and zine that I would have to buy.

To make matters worse, the Forbes article said that Wood had translated variations of the story from Danish, German and Frisian. That was absolutely too close to home for me not to go looking for it! Except I had very little to go on, because again, Forbes didn’t give sources.

The article said only this:

Wood called the story “The Dog And The Sailor”

The protagonist is an adventurous sailor with an overprotective mother who defeats a beautiful evil witch and wins the hand in marriage of a handsome prince.

Wood found it in the Stith Thompson’s six-volume Motif-Index of Folk-Literature under a tale type called “The Dog and the Sea” which existed in multiple languages (Danish, German, Frisian and others), but not in English.

It was first written down in the 1800’s.

I could find only one mention online with more information, on the Simmons University website:

“Originally a Danish folktale documented by the folklorists Nikolaj Christensen and Jens Kamp, this story has been translated into English for the first time by Pete Jordi Wood.”

The consequence of all this is that I have been hunting for this fairy tale for a very long time and with the help of two amazing Danish followers and a lot of frantic internet searches, I’m finally convinced that I have! So, if you want to follow me into my obsession, you can find it all under the readmore.

Of course the first thing I did was try to find this tale type “The Dog and the Sea” in the Stith Thompson Motif-Index, but it was a dead end. I couldn’t find any fairy tale called “The Dog and the Sea” or “The Dog and the Sailor” anywhere. What I was able to find was a podcast called “There’s a Story for That” that gave a recap and review of Wood’s “The Dog and the Sailor”. So now at least I knew the full outline of the story:

A beautiful, evil witch curses a faraway tropical kingdom, charming everyone into submission, transforming them into animals and sinking the kingdom to the bottom of the ocean.

An English boy called Ruan wants to become a sailor and his protective mother eventually lets him go after he fails at being a tailor.

She gives him her life savings, a medical balm and a dagger.

Ruan joins a sailing crew, shipwrecks in a storm and washes up on the shores of France.

When his money runs out he gets so desperate that he contemplates walking into the sea, but at that moment a curly haired dog emerges from the waves and offers to help him. He fills Ruan’s purse with money and instructs him to pay double for everything he buys.

When he has spent all the money Ruan returns to the dog, gets a thousand gold pieces and is instructed to get a ship and a crew.

They sail off, but the sea witch sends a storm dragon to sink them. The dog defeats the dragon while the crew hides below deck.

They find the dog grievously wounded, but Ruan heals him with his mother’s balm.

The dog tells Ruan to go out in a row boat and jump into the sea, much to the terror of the crew.

Ruan sinks to the sunken kingdom unharmed and the dog leads Ruan to the town, where a beautiful woman (the witch) comes to meet him.

She promises him half of her kingdom if he’ll be her spouse. Ruan refuses and stabs her to death with the dagger. She explodes into dust, leaving behind only a belt with silver keys.

Ruan enters the castle and the dog is already inside to lead him to the dungeon, where they find a caged lion.

The dog instructs Ruan to cut off his head and tail and swap their places. This turns the lion into an old man, the king.

The king praises Ruan for being the only person who managed to resist the witch. All the animals in the castle turn human, including the dog, who is the king’s son.

The king suggests Ruan and his son rule the kingdom together. Ruan wants to accept, but feels he has to return to his mother. So the king gives him a ship full of gold instead. By then the kingdom has risen to the surface again.

Ruan sails back to his mother, who praises him, but tells him to go back to marry his prince.

He returns and marries the handsome prince.

The next step was looking at the mentioned authors, I was lucky enough to come across a book by Stephen Badman, who had translated a large selection of the fairy tales Jens Kamp published in 1879 and 1891 and published them in 2016 under the title “Folk and Fairy Tales from Denmark – Stories collected by Jens Kamp”. I couldn’t be sure that the right story was in there, but it was! The book included a story called David Cotterson (David Husmandssøn), which was clearly Wood’s source, but did have notable differences:

The witch and the kingdom are never mentioned in the beginning.

The hero is called David, his nationality is not given, he has two parents and no parting gifts are mentioned.

He shipwrecks and washes up on the coast of England.

The helpful dog is described as “large, black and shaggy”.

The dog gives David first five hundred ducats, then a thousand ducats, and the third time two thousand ducats and the assignment to have a ship built.

Again the crew hides from a storm and the dog gets injured, but the dog gives David a flask of healing oil to cure him with. It is never said that the witch causes the storm.

The dog warns David explicitly that he will meet a beautiful woman near a golden castle, who would attempt to seduce him, but that if he gives her as much as a kiss all will be lost.

He gives David a sword an instructs him to cut her down, take her keys, and go to the castle where he will be waiting for him.

As soon as he kills the woman he hears his crew shout, because suddenly the land has risen to the surface again.

Only now it is revealed that the woman was an evil witch who had sent the land to the bottom of the sea.

Once transformed back into humans, the dog and lion explain that the evil witch had been the king’s second wife.

The king offers David half the kingdom as a reward, but David wants to go home, so they fill his ship with treasure instead.

David says goodbye to the prince and the king, sails home to England, sells his ship, shares the riches with his crew, returns to his overjoyed parents and settles down with them to live a long, happy life.

I personally really enjoy this folktale. It’s fun and quite unusual. I’ve posted a more complete summary here for extra context. Also, Badman’s translations are very pleasant to read, I really recommend buying this book. Now I’ve read his source, I’m inclined to agree with one part of Wood’s claims, that you could read it as asexual. It’s pretty rare to find a fairy tale like this that doesn’t end in a wedding. But the fact that this Danish tale doesn’t end in a marriage, unlike Wood’s adaptation, does rather dampen the “lost gay fairy tale” claim.

But there are other versions of this story! I thought it might possible that one of the stories might have ended with “rule side by side with my son”, which really would be very easy to read as a “gay marriage without calling it a marriage”. So, I wanted to see if Nikolaj Christensen had also collected a variant. Sadly, Christensen’s work is even more obscure than Kamp’s outside Scandinavia. Again, Stephen Badman has translated some of them, but I had no idea what the folktale would be called and I couldn’t exactly justify buying several books just in the hope that it would be in there.

As far as I could tell, there had been only one complete collection of Christensen’s work: Folkeeventyr fra Kær herred (Folk tales from Kær Herred), by Nikolaj Christensen, published by Laurits Bødker with Akademisk forlag; København (1963-67). The index is available online and it seemed to me that “Matrosen og kongen” (The sailor and the king) or “Et sømandsæventyr” (A sailor tale) had definite potential to be the story I was looking for.

So, I decided to ask my Tumblr dash for Danish help. And let me tell you, the Danes delivered. @violetdesolation messaged me that they had found the book in their university library and kindly offered to send me some scans. They found both “Matrosen og kongen” and “Et sømandsæventyr” for me, but noticed that the book they got didn’t include all the folktales in the index I found. We both looked for a dog that turned into a prince, but found nothing.

But by then a second helpful Dane had gotten their hands on the book and this time it was the complete version! They kindly offered to skim the whole thing for me and just to be sure I gave a whole list of story elements to look out for. And that is how we uncovered that “Et sømandsæventyr” (A sailor tale) was actually the story I was looking for! Only it was just different enough from “David Husmandssøn” that I hadn’t noticed! In this version the protagonist was Dutch instead of English and in the end it never even clearly says that the dog turns into a prince! But it was definitely a variant of the same story. It has many similarities with Kemp’s version, but a few key differences:

The protagonist is called Johan, only his father is mentioned, and they are said to be Dutch.

He shipwrecks and washes up in France, not England.

Johan actually tries to drown himself.

The talking dog is specifically said to be a poodle.

There are a lot of details missing, like the description of the storm that injures the dog or the specific method to transform the lion back into a human.

The witch is described merely as “beautiful” and while she does suggest marriage to Johan it is never said that no one else could resist her or that many have tried.

While the dog does say he is a transformed prince, the story never states that he becomes human again (hence why Violetdesolation and I didn’t find the story on first glance).

This king does not speak and this witch is not revealed to be his second wife.

As a reward Johan may choose between becoming a minister in the saved kingdom’s government or to leave with as much gold as he can carry, he chooses the gold and goes home, but his father is not mentioned again.

If you want to read the full story, you can! You can find the scans of the Danish text that the kind @violetdesolation provided here, and a full English translation can be found here, courtesy of the second Danish folklore sleuth, who preferred to stay anonymous. I also want to give a big shout-out to @ymfingsteadilyon who also offered to get the book from their library.

So now I had confirmation that this was indeed a Danish fairy tale first recorded in the 1800’s, that, while sadly lacking a gay wedding, did definitely invite being read through a queer lens. However, the article had claimed there was also a German and a Frisian version. Which probably meant there was also a Dutch version and I was determined to find it (and see if it ended in marriage).

It was at this point that I finally finally found the tale type with both “dog” and “sea” in it. The correct name wasn’t  “The Dog and the Sea”, it was “The Dog in the Sea”, ATU type 540. To my intense frustration the most complete online ATU index had no examples in that category whatsoever, but at least I knew it existed.

And now I knew the correct name for the tale type, I found this. A German fairy tale encyclopedia from 1990 (the online version was behind a paywall, but I managed to find the book: Enzyklopädie des Märchens, Walter de Gruyter & Co, 1988/1990, ISBN 978-3-11-011763-9) that had a whole entry on this tale type including sources. My German was just good enough to understand these things:

This really was the correct tale type for both Christensen’s and Kamp’s stories and a summary was indeed given in Aarne and Thomson’s folklore classifications.

They presumed that Christensen’s version from 1855 was the oldest.

There were also Swedish and Finnish versions, but these deviated rather a lot from the Danish ones.

There was possibly also a Russian version that might fit this type.

There was also a Dutch version from a publication from 1900/1901.

So, what was this Dutch version they wrote of? The source given was “Huizenga-Onnekes, E. J.: Groninger volksvertellingen 1. Groningen 21958, 60-64; Vk. Tijdschrift voor nederlandsche folklore 13 (1900/1901) 200-202;”, but luckily I didn’t need to go looking for it. Because with the correct tale type I could find it in the Dutch folktale database.

And while it is correct that this story was first published in Dutch the 1900’s, the written source it was based on is from 1804. Which makes the Dutch version the oldest traceable source of this piece of oral folklore! Possibly explaining why Christensen’s version has a Dutch protagonist and why Kamp’s version is the most elaborate, being the most recent one. Because the Dutch version is far shorter and far less interesting:

The protagonist is a skipper who wrecks his ship and washes ashore in great misery.

A black dog comes up to him and offers help, which the skipper accepts despite fearing the dog is the devil.

When the ship is built the dog stays with the skipper so he can pay for everything, including a crew and provisions.

As they sail the dog keeps warning when there is to be a storm. First one that lasts half a day, then three days, then a week.

At last they reach a shore (not underwater) with a golden castle and the dog says it is his father’s castle.

The dog instructs the skipper to spend three nights in the castle and to be silent no matter how bad it gets.

The castle turns out to be haunted and the skipper is horribly tormented, but after the three nights the dog takes the skipper to a room with a large sword and instructs him to behead him.

Doing so turns the dog into a human, who explains that his father had cursed him to become a spectre of a dog.

He rewards the skipper with enough money to last him a lifetime and the skipper leaves with his riches.

This version was written down by 11 year-old Gerrit Arend Arends, who kept a journal around 1804 in which he recorded the stories that seamstress Trijntje “Soldaats” Wijbrands told him. The journal was discovered by his great-great-granddaughter E.J.Huizenga-Onnekes, who eventually published all 17 folktales in: Groninger Volksvertellingen I: Het Boek van Trijntje Soldaats (1928).

The story about the sailor and the enchanted dog is the 15th story in the collection and while it has no name there, I have seen later versions of it called “De dankbare hond” (The grateful dog) and “De hond die geen hond was” (The dog that wasn’t a dog).

So there we are! With a lot of kind help from unexpected places, my honour as a Dutch hobby folklorist is restored. Sadly we were not rewarded with a canon gay wedding from 19th century folklore, but a very good story nonetheless, that is indeed very inviting to read through a queer lens, and a rather triumphant end to a what started as a very wild goose chase.

EDIT: Since writing this, this tale type was added to Wikipedia, with additional interesting references! I wish I had looked for it there again between the beginning and the end of my search, because this took me so long it was published in between.

[ot3]

the paper’s about otw’s fan culture preservation project, the prozine thing is just something i found while looking for historical context, but if you’re still interested i can send it to you just beware that its for high school & the quality may or may not be terrible

the source i found mentioning it is at this site: http://www.zinebook.com/resource/wright1.html

no idea if its accurate since i wasnt in the zine community at the time;;

this is a really interesting link thank you ! lets take a look at it.

Keeping Lacan's linguistic orientation in mind, it is appropriate to begin with the etymology of the word "zine." The most distant ancestor of the term "zine" in the English language is the word "magazine," which comes itself from the Arabian word "makhazin"—the plural of "makhzan," meaning storehouse. In English, magazine retains the same meaning, but has become more commonly known as the name for a periodical that contains "miscellaneous pieces" of writing, a definition that would seem to fit most zines as well. But although related, magazines aren't zines, and it isn't a simple matter of dropping the "maga" to arrive at "zine," as Larry-bob, publisher of the zine Holytitclamps, points out:

"There is no apostrophe in zine. Zine is not short for magazine. A magazine is a product, a commercial commodity. A zine is a labor of love, producing no profit, and zine, information is just another ingredient, thinly sliced layers to keep the cream filling of advertising from sticking together. Information is the reason a zine exists; everything else, down to on."

first we've got this take from a queer zine publisher about the term zine vs magazine which seems to be the sort of take on zines that a lot of the people who dislike professionally printed fandom zines adhere to. I'm sticking this under the cut because all of these excerpts im sticking in here are getting long.

then we've got the fan take on the thing.

Fanzines

📷The reasons for this sharp differentiation between magazines and zines comes directly from zines' closest relative and the immediate source of the term "zine": the fanzine. Like zines, the earliest fanzines were produced for personal and not financial reasons. They were predominately produced by aficionados of a certain subject, most frequently fantasy and science-fiction literature, as documents to celebrate their devotion and interest. As Fredric Wertham points out in his book "The World of Fanzines." The word fanzine was originally an in-group slang expression used loosely and interchangeably with 'fan-mag,' that is fan magazine."

📷This signification of "fan magazine" differentiated the publications produced by fans from the "professional newsstand magazines" such as Amazing Stories and Weird Tales, which were referred to as "prozines"—professional magazines. Fanzines were widely devoted to discussion of science-fiction and fantasy literature, and featured articles, cartoons, and fiction related to the subject, all produced by the fans themselves. In her introduction to "Some Zines," Cari Goldberg-Janice writes that the fanzines united far-flung fans to write about "the subject they loved to talk about the most—science fiction."

📷Many fanzine writers aspired to write in the prozines someday, and many did, notable among them Ray Bradbury, Robert Bloch, and Robert Heinlein. Stephen Perkins lists the first fanzine as The Comet, which appeared in 1930, and summarizes the influence of these early fantasy/science-fiction fanzines on today's zines in his pamphlet, Approaching the '80's Zine Scene.

it looks like what they mean by 'prozine' here is not 'professionally printed fanzine' but rather 'professionally published magazine'. i think a lot of people in this whole zine debacle are confusing professional printing with professional publishing. Anon said in their first ask "i find it interesting how using zines to describe like nicely produced & fully colored projects is being debated i'm writing a history paper on zines and from what ive found those types of books were referred to as prozines before??" but this seems to be much less about the production value and entirely about the connection to mainstream industry. these people didn't want to just be sf/f fanwriters, they wanted to be sf/f writers! how nicely the thing was printed wasn't really a factor here.

i find it SUPER interesting that the fanzine scene dates all the way back to 1930! i had no idea. So then here's where things get really interesting -

From Fanzine to Zine

📷Although originating in fantasy/science-fiction fandom, fanzines eventually spread to other areas of aficionado interest, particularly music and comic books, and the term "fanzine" came to denote fan publications in those fields as well. As the practice of fanzines spread to other fan communities, the new publications inherited the qualities from the original fantasy/science-fiction fanzines, eventually passing those qualities on to what would become known as zines.

📷The evolution from fanzine to zine was not a simple one-step process however. For once outside the exclusive domain of fantasy/science-fiction fandom, fanzines became imbued with the spirit of other independent publishing ventures such as the underground press of the 1960s, mail art magazines, and Amateur Press Associations (APAs—which also played a large part in fantasy/science-fiction fandom). Consequently, the fanzines produced outside of fantasy/science-fiction fandom became much less fan publications, and much more of a mongrel breed of publication all their own.

📷The term "zine" was finally adopted because, although these idiosyncratic publications resembled fanzines, the traditional definition of fanzine did not seem to apply. What is John Marr, publisher of Murder Can Be Fun, a fan of anyway? Murder? Crime? Death? One can certainly have an active interest in those subjects, but could one be truthfully described as a fan of those subjects? Probably not, and the evolution from fanzine to zine saw the elimination of the fan.

📷The shift from fanzine to zine also dismissed the hierarchy of producer and consumer that lies implicit in the fanzine's very name. There was no longer a quiet differentiation between fanzines and prozines. It's difficult to imagine Jim and Debbie Goad of ANSWER Me! or Jeff Koyen of Crank doing their zines for apprentice work and merely aspiring to someday break into commercial publishing as was the case with so many of the writers of the early fantasy/science-fiction fanzines.

I could say a ton about this in regards to how it relates to the current debate about zines but i am already procrastinating really hard on mailing the rest of my packages so i'll just let it sit and you can all ruminate on it yourselves.

but what REALLY takes the cake for me is

However, the term "fanzine" is still used in fantasy/science-fiction fandom, and some members of that community regard the current generation of zines as nothing more than upstarts which will fade away soon, returning the term "fanzine" to its original uncorrupted meaning of denoting fantasy/science-fiction fan publications. In his article, "Zines (or, Fear and Loathing in the World of Amateur Press)," Peter Maranci writes:

"I might also interject here that the entire zine 'revolution' of the last few years is somehow mildly amusing to those in the science-fiction and role-playing field. Zines on those subjects have been published for the last 50 years or more. It seems likely that the sex/music/goth/whatever zine fad is just that, a fad; in time, it will go ion between SF/RPG [Science-Fiction/Role-Playing Games] and the new breed of zines."

BEAUTIFUL. ABSOLUTELY FUCKING BEAUTIFUL. I looked up Peter Maranci to see if i could try and find this article and the two minutes of googling i did did not reveal it but i might do some more digging later. I did find his website and he did a bunch of indie publishing for RPG enthusiasts, which is awesome.

i really love that basically the conclusion is that the fan zines have been here first and will always be here and the underground queer/punk/etc scene is actually the branch off of zines - not the standard.

this really to me fits in with the opinion i've always had, which is that the reasons past fanzines were not professionally printed and sleek looking endeavors was not because the people making them wanted to go for an indie counterculture feel (in fact, many of these people wished to break into the industry!) but because professional printing services have never been this easily accessible.

thanks for the link!

[societyofaustralianpunk]

Punk Fanzine Archives from around the world.

A punk fanzine or ‘zine’ is a DIY publication related to the punk subculture and hardcore punk music genre. Often primitively or casually produced, a fanzine can feature punk literature, such as social commentary, poetry, news, gossip, music reviews and articles about punk rock bands or regional punk scenes.

Below is a list of punk fanzine websites and archives from around the world, as well as related publications, papers, articles and books.

Archive.org - Zines

Bacteria Netherlands - 70s and 80s Dutch zine archive and International Zine Archive

Bored Teenagers - A collection of UK punk fanzines (covers) from the late 1970

Brob Tilt's zine-world -  (fan)zines that are interesting, historical, meaningful, influential, funny, intelligent, surprising, peculiar and inspiring

Circulation Zero -  West Coast Punk Music Zines from the 1970-80s: Damage, Slash & No Mag.

Contextual Dissemination - Punk fanzine archive, 1977 onwards - The sole purpose of this website is to make underground, out-of-print, punk zines accessible to anyone doing research. 

Digital Fanzine Preservation Society (DFPS). A collection of hardcore and punk music fanzines remastered and collected on the DFPS blogspot by Nagus from 2009-2011.

Essential Ephemera - UK Punk Literature & Images 1976-1984

Florida Punk, Indie, and Hardcore Archive -  Florida Punk Flyers, Posters, Fanzines, and Photographs sponsored by Visual Vitriol.

Gary Storm Songs -  Punk and New Music Fanzines – Late 1970s to Early 1980s

Grrrlzine Network -  Here you can find rebellious feminist zines: grrrl and lady zines, riot grrrl zines, transgender zines, zines by grrrls of color, lesbian/queer zines and many others!

HeartattaCk -  An internationally distributed punk zine with a strong bent towards hardcore punk and anti-consumerism. It was published by Kent McClard and Lisa Oglesby from March 1994 through June 2006. In the final years of its publication it remained one of the most popular zines available. 

International Institute of Social History -  The world's leading institute in socio-economic history

Punk in the East -  Punk in the East is a digital collection of original punk photographs, gig ticket, posters, clothing and ephemera from Norwich, Norfolk and across East Anglia. As content continues to come in it is fast becoming the largest digital UK punk archive to be found anywhere on the internet.

Punk Journey: The History of the Melbourne Punk Scene (Australia) - punk fanzines from 1977 - 1987.

Punk Planet Archive -  Punk Planet was a punk zine, based in Chicago, Illinois, that focused most of its energy on looking at punk subculture rather than punk as simply another genre of music to which teenagers listen.

Punk Rocker Fanzines - Sites for Sore Eyes

Rockmine : The Fanzine Archive -  A Fanzine & Fan Club Magazine Archive.

Swedish Punk Fanzines - A site about collecting punk, hardcore and black metal records and Swedish punk zines.

Talkin’ Bout Fanzines - Fanzines from the Southend Area of the UK

UK Zine Library -  100s of(mostly)UK Zines from late 70s to early 90s, scanned and downloadable archive.

Weed - UK punk / post-punk fanzines 1980-1986.

Zineopolis - Art Zine Collection

Definition of a fanzine

Punk zine - Wikipedia

https://fanlore.org/wiki/Zine

Related Publications/Archives: 

Like Punk Never Happened - Brian McCloskey's Smash Hits archive from 1978, through to July 1985.

Monash University Library recently acquired a small collection of important punk zines, fanzines, and magazines to add to the Rare Books Collection. 

Punk Globe - not a fanzine but a long running magazine that offers a free DIY website for people to get the latest news, reviews, articles, interviews plus much more.

Punk Magazine - Punk was a music magazine and fanzine created by cartoonist John Holmstrom, publisher Ged Dunn, and "resident punk" Legs McNeil in 1975. Its use of the term "punk rock", coined by writers for Creem magazine a few years earlier to describe the simplistic and crude style of 60's Garage rock bands, further popularized the term.

Roadrunner -  Roadrunner was a rock magazine published in Adelaide between 1978-83. Its founding editors were Stuart Coupe and Donald Robertson, who worked together on the single-issue Punk zine Street Fever in December 1977. Though primarily focused on Australian and overseas rock music, it also covered areas of the burgeoning counterculture and issues such as punk. The final edition of December 1982 / January 1983 was published in Sydney. To accompany the release of this collection in May 2017, publisher Donald Robertson penned a history of the magazine. It is available here: The History of Roadrunner.

State Library of Victoria - The State Library of Victoria has the largest public collection of zines – independent, not-for-profit, and often hand-made publications – in Australia. 

Related Books:

Adventures in Reality: The Complete Collection book -  Put together by Alan Rider, Adventures in Reality, was a fanzine from Coventry in the early 1980s.

Mass Movement: The Digital Years, Volume 1 and 2 - A compilation of the best interviews and features from the second half of Mass Movement’s digital period.

Punk Faction BHP '91 to '95 -  A collection of BHP fanzines that cover a range of subjects that were important to the youth of the 1990s and are still relevant to the alternative scene of today. 

Ripped and Torn: 1976 - 79 The Loudest Punk Fanzine in the UK -  Ripped and Torn was one of the first punk fanzines, and continued long after others like Sniffing Glue had stopped.

Ripped, torn and cut - Pop, politics and punk fanzines from 1976 - A book that offers a collection of original essays exploring the motivations behind - and the politics within - the multitude of fanzines that emerged in the wake of British punk from 1976. 

Search & Destroy #1-6: The Complete Reprint -  Search & Destroy, a zine self-published from 1977-1979 by V. Vale, was a thorough anthropological survey of an emerging social-change movement: the San Francisco punk scene.

Sniffin' Glue The Bible -  An edited compendium of the first 10 issues of Mark Perry’s seminal Punkzine  Sniffin’ Glue.    

Sniffin' Glue: The Essential Punk Accessory - It was the most influential rock magazine of its time. It was called Sniffin' Glue and it's about to be recreated as a book

The Best of Punk Magazine -  A book that includes high-quality reprints of hard-to-find original issues, as well as rare and unseen photos,essays, interviews, and even handwritten contributions from the likes of AndyWarhol, Lou Reed, Debbie Harry, the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Lester Bangs,Legs McNeil, Lenny Kaye, and many more.

Touch and Go: The Complete Hardcore Punk Zine '79-'83 - Touch and Go fanzine was the brainchild of Tesco Vee and Dave Stimson and was launched in Lansing, Michigan, in 1979.

We Owe You Nothing: Punk Planet: The Collected Interviews -  The first compilation of the riveting and provocative interviews of Punk Planet magazine, founded in 1994 and charging unbowed into the new millennium.

Related PDFs:

A Destabilising Pleasure: Representations of Alternative Music in Irish Fanzines

Art-Zines, The Self-Publishing Revolution: The Zineopolis Art-Zine Collection

Bay Area Dadazines and Punk Zines in 1970s San Francisco: Interactive, Ephemeral, Live

Before Blogs There Were Zines: Berman, Danky, and the Political Case for Zine Collecting in North American Academic Libraries

CATALOGING AND DESCRIPTION OF FANZINE AND ZINE COLLECTIONS IN AMERICAN ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

Doing it ourselves: Countercultural and alternative radical publishing in the decade before punk (2018)

Flood the market with alternative writing! – Fanzinesrepositories in Europe

FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE: British anarcho -punk 'zines (1980-1984) as sites of resistance and symbols of defiance

Global Network Zines - The Public Face of Mail Art

Hands-on Communication: Zine Circulation Rituals and the Interactive Limitations of Web Self-Publishing

In the Ruins of Zine Pedagogy: A Narrative Study of Teaching with Zines

London Punk Fanzines 1976-1984: The Celebration of the Every Person 

"Minor Threats" (Radical History Review)

Music fanzine collecting as capital accumulation

Punk, Politics and British (fan)zines, 1974­-84:'While the world was dying, did you wonder why?

Punk ‘zines – ‘symbols of defiance’ from the print to the digital age

Punk’s Not Dead: Resurrecting Punk Fanzines at Michigan State University Libraries

Print is Dead: The Promise and Peril of Digital Media for Subcultural Resistance

Riot Girl from Zine to Screen and the Commodification of Female Transgression

The D.C. Punk & Indie Fanzine collection

The Octapod Zine Collection: Developing a preservation and access strategy

Value and Validity of Art Zines as an Art Form

Zines Will Survive

Related Articles:

City Fun

Damage, Slash & No Mag - Download 50+ Issues of Legendary West Coast Punk Music Zines from the 1970-80s: Damage, Slash & No Mag

Fanzines - Clinton Walker (Australia)

Fanzine culture

Fanzines: the purest explosion of British punk

Self-made: zines & artist books (Exhibition)

Sniffin’ Glue: A fanzine that epitomized punk

Sniffin’ Glue: The Definitive Punk Zine

Tracing the beginnings of the punk fanzine

Up Yours: Anarchist Fanzines 

Related Video:

Guttersnipe Punk Fanzine Telford

PUNK ZINES : UK 1978 - 1984

[girlsbtrs]

How Countercultures turn Politics into Culture

Written by Lila Danielsen Wong. Graphic by Paula Nicole

In 1969, an academic named Theodore Roszak published “The Making of a Counterculture” and coined the term “counterculture” in order to describe the ant-mainstream youth movements of the 60s. Counterculture’s are not inherently good or progressive, both the punks and the skinheads are countercultures. Counterculture just means, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a culture with values and mores that run counter to those of established society.

I’m not here to critique these movements. I am not writing this to critique how the Bohemian Romantics won respect for the arts because they mostly came from upper class backgrounds, and I’m not here to discuss the lack of intersectionality in the riot grrl movement. After starting this article I realized I had pitched a whole academic thesis, and maybe bit off a little more than I had intended to chew (why can’t I just pitch a listicle?). So, instead of focusing on the nitty gritty of what prompted these social movements and academically exploring their effects, I want to talk about the “culture” part of counterculture.

Nearly all countercultures are birthed around shared political ideas, but many seem to start within the culture itself, perhaps as a musical movement, a literary movement, a visual art movement, or even a fashion or aesthetic. As the movements expand, they come to encompass more of those aforementioned arts, and thus the politics that prompted the original movement become a culture. 

An early example of a western subculture is the Bohemian Romantics of Europe of the 19th century. In pre-revolutionary France, artists were lower class tradesmen. Artists were seen as dirty and immoral. However, in post-revolutionary France, disillusionment prompted young bourgeois men to reject the typical hierarchy and launch the bohemian artist lifestyle we are more familiar with today. A critical event on this timeline was Victor Hugo’s “Romantic Army,” or his mob of young men that he assembled to protest theatre censorship by absolutely trashing a theatre. The Bohemian lifestyle often manifested as wealthy young artists electing poverty to reject the traditions they were born into, and to spend their time creating art unrestricted. Bohemian fashion was more utilitarian and rustic than the upper-class styles.  The music of the Romantic era is categorized by its vigor and passion, pioneered by Beethoven himself. Beethoven challenged the strict and sometimes formulaic sonatas and symphonies of the past, favoring expression and inventiveness. Thus, prompted by the rejection of bourgeois values and principles, a culture was created: a lifestyle, an aesthetic, a literary movement, a new musical style. 

Nearly 150 years later and 5000 miles away from Bohemian France, the riot grrl movement was brewing in the Northwest United states. The riot grrl movement, created by a group of women working to combat sexism in the western Washington punk scene, was a counterculture within a counterculture. While the Romantic movement originated in literature, the punk movement, and then the riot grrl movement, was born as a musical movement. 

In 1970s Britain, the government was nearly bankrupt and giant cuts to social services were making life hard and creating a sense of alienation between the ruling class and the working class. British Punk emerged from this alienation. The youth used music to communicate their frustrations and anger. The rips and safety pins of punk fashion weren’t originally fashion, the punks just owned ragged clothing. The disillusionment with the political landscape and frustration with older generations resonated with youth all over the world, and it’s not hard to see why a Post-Vietnam and Watergate America would embrace the Punk movement with open arms. However, where British Punk was rooted in working class frustrations, American Punk took root with the middle-class suburban crowd, who, similar to the Bohemians, choose to reject the comfortable life they were born into. A notable difference that this created in the music was British punk had more pointed and explicit politically leftist lyrics, whereas this was not the focus of American punk lyrics. 

This is especially important to understand when talking about the riot grrl movement because they put the politics in American Punk lyrics. In the early 1990s, a group of women from the Olympia, Washington punk scene had a meeting to address the sexism they faced in Punk. They started writing lyrics centered around the sexism and misogyny they face in Punk and in life. They created their own literature through zines when they could not get coverage. They wore clothing specifically intended to look like what respectable women weren’t supposed to wear. Again, we watch a group of people turn their politics into a culture, as a way to spread and practice their ideologies. 

If you want a modern example of turning politics into culture via a counterculture, look no further than cottagecore (yes, really).

       As I said at the beginning, countercultures don’t need to be radically progresive to be countercultures. Cottagecore dwells on romanticized pastoral ideals of a fantastic yesteryear that never really existed. Cottagecore gained some traction on TikTok as an “aesthetic,” made up of imagery such as women in long button up dresses flouncing through fields and making picnics. Absent were the rise and grind aspirations of pre-pandemic America. Absent were any signs of the labor often associated with pastoral living. It is no surprise that a counterculture that emphasizes solitary retreat, rest, nature, and crafting blew up during the first year of the covid-19 pandemic during which many experienced forced solitary retreats, a change in work environments (not to mention the want to not work), and boredom that could only be remedied with solitary activities such as crafting and enjoying nature. The pandemic dismantled all of the systems of normal life as we knew it, and cottagecore invited us to grow from this space, perhaps embracing a simpler, slower life. This political message was so subtly delivered through our social media scrolling that if you weren’t paying attention, you might not have even realized cottagecore had political ideals at all. 

The rise of cottagecore is important in the conversation of how countercultures turn politics into culture because it showcases very blatantly how countercultures are not created, or at least do not catch on, without need and reason. Taylor Swift most likely did not create her surprise albums Folklore and Evermore (the unofficial cottagecore soundtrack) solely to cater to the cottagecore TikTok crowd, she created these albums as a form of personal escapism from how her own life was turned upside down by the pandemic, as a form of connection with her fans who were also experiencing the effects of the pandemic on their lives, and as art that represented certain feelings that came along with the pandemic. 

Her albums came about for the same reason that cottagecore really caught on in the first place: it was what some people felt that they needed due to the circumstances of the time. It was for this reason, I would argue, that Folklore won album of the year. It was indicative of the times. 

So, countercultures are born from a need. From this need comes politics, be it post revolution anti-bourgeois sentiments, mid-century British leftism, or a quiet call to slow down and reject hustle culture for a simple life. From politics comes art, and from art, culture. 

Let’s talk about this in terms of an up-and-coming counterculture, hyperpop. 

       Though Wikipedia currently defines hyperpop as a “micro genre,” hyperpop’s rise is looking anything but “micro.” Hyperpop is described in The Spectator as “catchy synthpop or bubblegum bass tune with elements of EDM and typically a focus on either queer culture or Internet futurism”. The term “self-referential lyrics” is often thrown around. In the least complicated words possible, hyperpop uses it’s sounds and lyrics to make a camped-up parody of popular music. Hyperpop pioneers that have some mainstream following include SOPHIE, Charli xcx, and Caroline Polechek. Hyperpop often uses carbonated synth sounds and vocal modulation, and many of the trailblazers are part of the LGBT community. 

What will hyper pop fashion and literature look like? What are hyper pop’s politics?

As for politics, there is something inherently political about queer artists carving out a space for themselves in pop music. Orange Magazine describes this as “pushing pop music to its limits and satirizing the gendered music industry. There’s an enjoyable sense of irony and juxtaposition.” 

       As for fashion, if we’re following the patterns we’ve established, hyperpop might bring gender non-conforming fashion that satirizes what’s been proclaimed normal. In terms of literature perhaps a Hyperpop literary movement will come from the controversial direction of Alt Lit, a community of minimalist writers that use the internet form and often reject intellectualized creative writing, create things that are weird for the sake of being weird, and use all caps and other purposeful spelling and grammar mistakes. A hyperpop literary movement might share the “self-referential” themes of hyperpop movement, while examining gender, sexuality, and personal identity in the internet age, seeing as the need to examine these themes in music indicates a need to examine these themes in other art forms. Maybe it will find creative ways to use internet platforms, as Alt Lit originators such as Steve Roggenbuck, a YouTube poet (well, a poet depending on who you ask), already have. 

What I find most exciting about hyperpop is that it has the potential to create a culture guided by music first, similar to the punks or to disco. Fashion and visual art and literature all inspired by the glittery new sounds created in music. Maybe hyperpop will stay a “microgenre,” but maybe we will get to witness the rise of something new. 

SOPHIE once said “I think all pop music should be about who can make the loudest, brightest thing. That, to me, is an interesting challenge, musically and artistically… just as valid as who can be the most raw emotionally,” and isn’t that a phenomenal thing to bring with us into a pent-up, fed-up, thoroughly exhausted, and newly vaccinated decade? 

 Sources

https://monoskop.org/images/b/b4/Roszak_Theodore_The_Making_of_a_Counter_Culture.pdf

https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/When-the-counterculture-counted-2835958.php

https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/periods-genres/romantic/

https://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist255/bohem/tlaboheme.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_subculture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_grrrl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roszak_(scholar)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemianism

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/brief-history-riot-grrrl-space-reclaiming-90s-punk-movement-2542166

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/03/arts/music/riot-grrrl-playlist.html

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/06/19/riot-grrrl-movement

https://www.nypl.org/blog/2013/06/19/riot-grrrl-movement

https://wildezine.com/3528/opinion/a-brief-history-of-punk/

file:///C:/Users/8lila/Downloads/history_initiates_vol_iv_april_2016_01_brooks_alison.pdf

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/03/hyperpop/617795/

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/9595799/hyperpop-history-mainstream-crossover/

https://www.stuyspec.com/ae/hyperpop-the-defining-genre-of-the-digital-age

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperpop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YRl4Kdnl2E&list=LL&index=4

https://theface.com/music/sophie-behind-the-boards-pop-scottish-producer

https://orangemag.co/orangeblog/2020/10/15/exploring-the-trans-roots-of-hyperpop

https://thebluenib.com/the-rise-and-fall-of-alt-lit-by-ada-wofford/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/pc-music-are-for-real-a-g-cook-and-sophie-talk-twisted-pop-58119/

[cscclibrary]

[Square graphic; blue square with rounded corners in the center.  White text in the square: “Writing & Publishing Zines / #CStateWrites / National Novel Writing Month”. Background is a photo of British punk fanzines; photo via Flickr user Stillunusual, used under CC BY 2.0 license.]

Zines, or fanzines, are a type of underground media produced by amateurs and enthusiasts, usually for a local, or small online audience.  Although some scholars argue that zines originated as early as the 18th century, zines as we now understand them first appeared in the science fiction fan community of the 1920s-1930s, created by, and circulating among, small groups of sci-fi fans. Music zines grew in popularity throughout the mid to late 20th century, and modern zines encompass a huge range of topics, including art and literature, social justice, and of course, fandom. (Source:  Fast, Furious and Xerox: Punk, Fanzines and DIY Cultures in a Global World, p. 1-2)

Zines put the entire writing, publishing, and promotion process in the hands of creators. They are often distributed freely or at low cost, not only in print, but in the form of downloadable PDFs or other files.  The zine community is constantly evolving and values free access to information, which means that most resources about zines, including scholarly archives and zine-making tips, are freely available on the open web.  Although there’s no definitive way to make a fanzine, this article gathers resources for ideas and techniques, plus links to zine archives, that may inspire you to create a zine of your own.

Instructional Articles

“How to Make a Zine,” by  Rona Akbari. Walks the reader through the creative process, from raw ideas to publication and distribution.

“How to Make a Zine: A Kid-Friendly DIY Guide,” by Celia C. Pérez.   Pérez is a long-time zine maker and YA author. This guide will show you how to make your own tiny pamphlets to fill with art, found images, and anything else your creativity suggests.

“Three Tips for Making an Excellent Zine,” via Sea Green Zines. Advanced tips regarding things like layout, whether or not to include contributor information, and more.

Video Tutorials

“How to Make a Zine from One Piece of Printer Paper,” by Dillon Pilorget and The Oregonian. Demonstrates how to make an 8 page zine from an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet of paper.

“How to Fold a 14-Page Zine,” by Andrea J. Bernard. Learn how to make a 14 page pamphlet with one sheet of 8.5″ x 11″ paper.

History and Archives 

[Note: Many of the below sites feature adult content.]

“A Brief History of Zines,” by Chloe Arnold.

Zines at the Internet Archive

Solidarity! Revolutionary Center and Radical Library zine collection at the Internet Archive. This zine collection was recently acquired for preservation by the University of Kansas.

DC Punk Archive Zine Library: A digitized collection of zines created in Washington, D.C. from the 1970s to the present.

The Queer Zine Archive Project: Preserving queer zines and making them available for researchers and other audiences.

[slaughtergutz]

I NEED to know more abt the dear Vigo boi and spiky goth Aquarius. May or may mot have a crush on both of them ; w ;

TIME FOR SOME PARAGRAPHS [tw: child abuse, cult mention, death; ask to tag for other things that i might miss]

ALRIGHT SO Virgo boy is Judas Punch. He usually just goes by Jude.

Born in 1970 to a well-off family in Los Angeles, Jude’s older sister, Michelle, was secretly a huge Manson groupie. After a particularly intense LSD trip while listening to The White Album,  the song Hey Jude came up and she took it as a sign. As he began to grow older, she started grooming him for her vision of Helter Skelter, to carry on Manson’s work. 

November 16, 1978 was scheduled for Manson’s parole hearing, and that, she believed, would be the perfect time to send a message. 

Jude, in the meantime, has been a worry for his family. He doesn’t speak. Doesn’t like eye contact. He moves very strangely--born with hypermobility, he bends very easily and comfortably, and this worries his mother. He’s had three exorcisms, none of which seemed to have helped any. That doesn’t even cover what sort of things his sister has been having him do. His twin brother doesn’t seem to have half of the problems he does and is much more well adjusted.

But he’s smart, and learns quickly. What Michelle does, it makes him feel bad, and he doesn’t want to do what she’s making him do. For tomorrow, she explains, when she tells him to, he needs to give this knife to their neighbors, right in their belly as hard as he can. But he knows that won’t feel good, because his back and forehead still hurt where it kissed him. He doesn’t like being bossed around, and he doesn’t like her. 

So the night before the hearing, Jude kills his sister. It seemed to be the right thing to do, why didn’t anybody else understand that? 

Jude spends the next five years in a mental institution, receiving no real help and no support from his family. Eventually he is shipped off to the east coast, to a small town called Pockmark. Unsuspecting though it may look, they boast one of the best institutions in the country, specializing in music therapy. 

There, Jude is finally able to open up and takes up various instruments quickly. They help him organize his thoughts and keep his hands busy.  And eventually, there, he meets an obnoxious punk rocker named Sisco who won’t stop asking him to join his band. Jude’s therapist says it might help his social skills. Whatever. Jude doesn’t really care, but relents as it gives him a chance to challenge himself musically.  He still can’t stand listening to the Beatles.  Other tidbits: He’s in the closet because he’s seen the sort of trauma Sisco has gone through and he doesn’t want to go through that himself. He’s also clairvoyant and sees white crows nearby people who are about to die, and can otherwise speak to the dead. Nobody ever believed him, of course, so he doesn’t talk about it. Corinne’s the only one that really believes him. He can seem airheaded sometimes because he often experiences missing time.  --------------------------------------------- AND AQUARIUS, that would be Xenon. Born 1952 as Adam [Redacted], he had medical complications from early on. Albinism was the most apparent but due to developing alopecia, he was completely hairless by the age of 10, which also affected his immune system. Xen was in and out of hospitals from various illnesses through most of his life, in addition to be very serious and introverted, left him with few friends. He bonded closest with other black sheep, his best friends being beatniks and those in the freak scene. 

He was only in the sixth grade for a week before falling horribly sick once again, and was stuck in the hospital for the rest of the year. Two of his classmates, however, would visit him daily. They were outcasts too. Dmitri, Beatrice, and Adam were inseparable. 

They didn’t bother to wait for graduation to pack up and run away to New York City. It may not have been any more accepting of them than other places, but they had ways of getting work, and it was much more exciting than a small town. And more dangerous. Especially for three young queer kids. 

On June 28th, 1969, a police raid on Stonewall Inn turned into a riot. All three of them spent the night in jail. 

After that, Adam and Dmitri became less hidden about their relationship. Beat got in the most trouble usually for being both an outspoken Black Panther supporter and an outspoken feminist lesbian. But the two men stood behind her every step of the way. 

Dmitri eventually founded a wildly successful underground zine called Fantasy Planet, which showcased queer models (like Adam) and queer art and literature (with many contributions made by Beat.) In their off-time, Adam and Beat were apprenticing as a piercer and tattoo artist respectively. 

With a supportive network and community, Adam was finally able to explore parts of himself he ignored before. His gender. His sexuality. His humanity. Morals, worldviews, politics, ideas, purpose. Around this time, he began to go by Xenon, taken from the noble gas. On occasion he would publish articles and stories under this new name before using it in public. Many of the characters in his stories were alien, and used new and ungendered pronouns. It was safe to do so, in fiction. And it was safe to do so, at home, when it was just the three of them. 

Hard drugs weren’t uncommon in the scenes they frequented. They didn’t have a name for what killed Dmitri. It was pneumonia, they were told. 

Xen completely shut himself away and became solely focused on his own work. The remaining two left NYC and opened up a shop in a small town called Pockmark in PA. Dmitri’s grandmother lived there and she needed to be taken care of. She raised him. It was the least he could do. And, despite how bigoted the townsfolk could be, there was a growing market for body modification.  Their most frequent visitor was a man named Billy, and his entourage. He often visited from Crater City. There were rumors he had mob ties. Nothing Xen wasn’t familiar with. His only concern was the boy who followed him around. A young orphan they called Francis who couldn’t have been older then thirteen.  Not stepping in sooner ended up being one of his greatest regrets.  (But don’t worry, he sort of made up for it by being the only person to visit him in the hospital after the fire. He’s basically his dad now.) Other tidbits: One of Xen’s most hardcore body modifications was the removal of his nipples and genitals. He also has the majority of his body tattooed and, being a huge fan of the movie Alien, has a heavy biomechanical theme. He considers himself to exist outside of gender and being human. After Dmitri’s death, Xen and Beat became legally married--in case either died, the other would be able to get their assets. They love each other deeply but platonically. Beat frequently dates other women (though not as much in the small town), while Xen does not. If he had the words we have today he would call himself asexual and aromantic. (He was in love with Dmitri and found no reason to continue romantic exploits after his death.) While he is a father figure to Sisco especially, he also very much plays a mentor role for Jude as the two are rather similar (introverted, serious, and both contenders for being the King of Deadpan Humor.)

[yespoetry]

Quentin Grey: Embodied

embodied

  a seed

come into body.

a seed

earthward in its unfolding.

  the expansion of chests

in the thickening of emotion,    

a seed                           cyclically swelling.

  i fill my hands with chest

when i hang heavy,       swelling

the worlds of feelings

                                                too big for body.

  ‘all boys have chests,‘

i whisper as i hold         lightly

            rub across my nipples.

‘all boys have chests,’

i say as i hold on

just a few

moments longer.

  i didn’t ask

for my body to be political,      

i glare into each of you as i walk, because

i didn’t ask

for my cunt

to be a statement,

boys have cunts, boys have cunts

i didn’t ask

for others to learn from my discomfort,

for others to fight about its existence,

for them to anger at their desires.

  all boys have chests &

i didn’t ask to have to tell you

  but i sometimes wonder

if i did.

maybe i asked for thousands of years

until my ungendered alien form

was sent to a realm that merged power

into a governing structure

given to a people with bodies

categorized on finite terms.

maybe i asked to feel

the immediacy of projection

on a planet who most readily

sees the body.

  maybe i asked,

& maybe i will continue

to rip these projections off

  my body,          a prayer

            a perversion

                        my body

a splintering

            -of all that lies stagnant in your mind-

                        my body

a spell that shifts

planetary history

each time i wear it in comfort

                        each time it hangs         in shame.

when you see

my naked form

your body expands

to see what it could mean

beyond all other ways it has been told.

Quentin Grey (he/they) is a queer trans faerie and word lover grown and raised on the east coast. He currently resides in Savannah, GA where he obtained a degree in English Literature. His work has been published in LURe Journal and Calliope Art & Literary Magazine. Themes he strongly believes in weaving into the collective reality include trans embodiment, the effects of trauma, color exploration, and plant wisdom. Grey loves to make and read zines, talk to plants, and create with food. 

[edamicopenguin]

17th February: Further Research

Since the beginning of the D&AD project, I have been thinking about the digital environment and how it can be integrated into physical space, or better yet, how it can combine the requirements outlined in Penguin's brief. I have realised that one important factor I should research is the history of Penguin and their archive of LGBTQIA+ literature.

I began my research by reading Giovanni's Room, as it was specified in our previous session that researching a specific book would be a good way of introducing ourselves to Penguin as a publishing house. James Baldwin's book, Giovanni's Room (1956) is a fictitious work, yet it contains a great deal of material drawn from his own experiences as a gay black man who fled to Italy in the hopes of escaping the racism and homophobia he had barely survived in America. There was, however, limited information available about James Baldwin at the time, in fact, he did not want others to know that he was the author of Giovanni’s Room as he feared that he would be subjected to even greater prejudice for his race. Despite his efforts to keep his identity a secret, he was nonetheless subjected to criticism as an anonymous author, and he was rejected by many publishing houses in Europe, all but Penguin. Penguin published his book in 1956, at a time when homosexuality was still a criminal offence in many jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom. After further research, I learned that Penguin's LGBTQIA+ collection is regularly showcased on their website. The following is an example of such articles, titled 'How Queer Spaces Survived Lockdown, from Clubs to Bookshops and Beyond' by the author Natasha Bell. It discusses building queer space admist the lockdown, which is pertinent to my concept.

"Booksellers at the UK’s oldest LGBT bookshop, Gay’s the Word, took to Instagram to offer daily poetry readings and live book recommendations, while those at Leeds’ The Bookish Type launched a zine and ran events celebrating the city’s queer activist history. Listing sites exploded with adverts for digital workout sessions, open-mic nights, readings, quizzes, film clubs, meditation sessions, speed-dating, bingo and more. Physical spaces are now opening up again – but have these digital connections changed our approaches to queer space? Erica at Gay’s the Word says, “Each time we’ve re-opened it’s felt different, but each time we’ve been blown away by the love, excitement, and support.”

In addition, I discovered Queering the Map. It is now possible to digitally document LGBTQIA+ experiences in relation to physical location; Queering the Map is a cartography of queer existence, allowing participants to put place marks in locations from their personal memories. As a result of the graph, people are sharing their moments and messages as an international community, creating a beautiful interconnection of queer narratives; furthermore, it only establishes the importance of the physical, making it a great digital environment in contrast to others that are becoming more and more like alternatives to real space.

Film vs. Literature

Since our discussion on Tuesday, I have found myself thinking more and more about how television series and films tend to have a greater success rate than the books they adapt, despite the fact that, at least in my opinion, they are never as immersive as the original material. The unfortunate reality is that immersion can be misunderstood and seen as slow and time-consuming in today's rapidly restless culture. The discussion we had on Tuesday included an excellent observation on how books may be linked with social status in today's society; books are, arguably, a leisure activity. I agree with this person's observation, people nowadays feel the need to consume media in shorter amounts of time, and not only that, it needs to be memorable. This is especially true when considering the current economic shifts, which have resulted in young people needing to work for extended periods of time. Their downtime is precious, so it is not the least bit surprising that people now turn to media that they know will activate more of their stimuli; for example, visual and aural media. This prompted me to research more into how mediums such as film have risen into power, which led me to a book titled Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship edited by Mireia Aragay. This was a fascinating read that analysed the discrepancies what we imagine and remember, and what is ultimately presented; when a character from a book comes to life, we are often surprised by the way that character is articulated, as well as their transition in existence; our memory of that character may drastically change, and this is true for the book itself; films have the potential to alter the public memory of a book.

“Despite the subordination of drama to narrative in novels, per-formance is also part of reading. Students reading Wuthering Heights are often puzzled by dramatic aspects of characterisation: how loud is Heathcliff's voice when he damns Cathy in the famous death-bed scene? What does his face look like when he peers into the void to see Cathy's ghost in the last stages of the book? Students are confused but productively enticed by the discovery that depending on how Heathcliff's lines of dialogue and body language are read, a completely different character emerges, which is why they easily understand that each screen Heathcliff is an interpretation of the protean literary Heathcliff. Deconstruction has successfully argued that texts are actually conspicuous by their almost infinite potential for different readings that never exhaust them, as J. Hillis Miller proved in his analysis of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights (1982).”

“In this sense, we might say that film adaptations try to deny the multiplicity sanctioned by literary theory. Each new adaptation, I would argue, intends to erase the public memory of its predecessors rather than open a dialogue with them. While the reader mostly respects variety in interpretation, the adapter tries to validate a particular interpretation aided by the impact of the audio/visual medium s/he uses. The reader may reject an adapter's particular version but can hardly answer back by producing a new film in the way that, for instance, scholars write new papers to debate their readings of Wuthering Heights. In this respect, performance is film's main weapon in its capacity to seduce the spectator. What the many versions of Wuthering Heights suggest, however, is that, so far, readers prefer their own Heathcliff(s). In the struggle between the verbal and the visual that arguably takes place in the reader's mind after seeing an adaptation of a novel previously read, film gains the upper hand when the reader can no longer return to his/her initial visualisation of the novel. It is, however, very hard to determine what exactly prompts this loss.”

According to Aragay, a film's ability to capture an audience is directly related to our sensory experiences. When a reader is unable to return to his or her original image of a character after viewing an adaptation of a previously read work, cinema has the potential to gain the upper hand, resulting in success for cinema over the written word.

Aragay, M. (2005). Books in Motion: Adaptation, Intertextuality, Authorship, Volume: 2. Contemporary Cinema.