KAIRAN 17

Thanks to Vittore Baroni's help - who guest edited the project - K17 is out.
Here's a review by Maria Zarro of Astrobabble fame (great zine for astro nerds and beyond)

http://astrobabylon.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/bizarrism-12-kairan-17.html

Blue Cubicle Press #2

The two issues of The First Line (see previous entry) actually were not what I had traded for with David LaBounty. David is a very generous guy, so he sent me a whole lot of nice booklets (in a very professional-looking cardboard box). What I was really looking forward to, though, was his travel zine Bookstores and Baseball.

This is not your average zine. It's a full color beauty, printed on good quality paper, and with a nice cover. If picture quality was a tad better, it could be mistaken for a mainstream publication. Apparently this little jewel is not for sale. At least according to the review I read in Xerography Debt, this is trades only.

Now, if you hate baseball, don't worry because this is mostly a travel/perzine with a lot of space devoted to books and bookstores. If, on the contrary, you love baseball, get it as soon as possible because there's a lot for the sports lover too: nice pictures of the stadiums the LaBounties visited, fun facts provided by David's son Gabriel, etc. To tie it all, David's writing is solid, funny and informative, and the zine's intro (Batting Practice, as he calls it) features some of the best writing I've seen lately. Nuff said.

The first three innings of B and B are already out, and I sure hope this zine is going to extra innings.

Blue Cubicle Press #1

Independent publishing is full of literary journals, some of which overlap with the zine network. I find the people (mostly men?) behind such enterprises a bunch of DIY saints of sorts. Think about it. Nearly all zine makers are a one-man band and usually write most of the content, if not everything. But editors of literary journals actively look for other people's stories, then spend their time, energy and money to circulate them.





I confess I don't really care for such publications - or most zine fiction, for that matter. When I want to read a novel, I prefer the classics. A few days ago, though, David LaBounty sent me a couple of issues of The First Line, and I found myself reading these booklets cover to cover.

The genial idea behind this project is clearly stated in the journal's name: Every three months, the TFL editors challenge potential contributors with a line of prose (e.g. "Working for God is never easy") and all the submitted stories must start with this same line.

Each issue features about ten stories ranging from one to eight pages. They are nicely printed and put together, and the stories are of above average quality. All in all it was a very nice surprise.