I READ ZINES [#6]

Stacy Russo - 'Poems a Librarian Wrote on Her Lunch Break'

This is a collection of poems all written in September 2013 and, as the title suggests, all written in Stacy's lunch breaks (albeit with a few minor exceptions). This is a really, really great collection. Russo is a fantastic poet and just to my taste; No flowery, pretentious bullshit, just concise, thoughtful observations about day to day life. Pick of the bunch, for me, was a love poem to Henry Rollins. I know how you feel Stacy, I have a soft spot for the man myself. I will definitely be purchasing more of Stacy's poetry zines in the very near future, and I would advise that you do the same.

 
Magnetic Poetry Zine - 'drunk poetry, lingering magic'

This zine is a compilation of poems created using fridge magnets. I really love this concept. A friend of mine once had alphabet fridge magnets and everyone would mess around with them, writing swear words more often than not, but I wish it had all been documented like this. My only issue with the zine itself is that the presentation is a little lacklustre. A little more gusto in the design would have elevated this zine from good to great.




Hand Job #6

I may be a little biased towards this zine for a couple of reasons. Firstly I have a short story called 'Him upstairs' published in it, and secondly, editor Jim Gibson is a mate. However, all bias aside, this zine is seriously fucking great. A celebration of British writing and culture with the old school photocopied, cut and paste aesthetic of 70s/80s fanzines. A new feature in this issue is a review section, with the inaugural review by writer/poet Gwil James Thomas of Joseph Ridgwell's short story 'Cuba (In Search of Hemingway)' which was published by Pug Ear Press.

 Gut Feelings #6 - 'The Organised Crime Issue'

Gut Feelings describes itself as 'a zine about food and everything else' and as the title suggests, the theme of this issue is organised crime - It combines tales of famous gangsters and criminals with recipes and food related trivia. Straight off the bat the print quality is noticeably better than previous issues and is even glued together rather than stapled.  In amongst the usual beautiful hand written type and quirky illustrations, my favourite piece is a touching story about a woman, her deceased partner and their love of The Sopranos.

Alice Ash - 'Home Alone, a Christmas special'

This mini zine from Brighton-based author Alice Ash contains a short story of her alternative, and decidedly more grim, take on Macauley Culkin Christmas classic 'Home Alone'. It's kind of an 'alternative ending' to the movie; a fucked up, non-family friendly alternative. I really enjoy Alice's writing, as well as her dark sense of humour, and I am looking forward to reading more of work.