It's Grrrrrrr ... illa!

The latest and final Guerilla Pamphlets issue is ready for your imbibing.  It’s only been two years!  Where are you going, Mr. Guerilla?  So sad.  But do enjoy the last issue.

LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE TWENTY-THIRD

Media Junky #12 | Jason Rodgers

Review zine
16 pages
4 ¼” x 5 ½” zine
Jason Rodgers
PO Box 62
Lawrence MA 01842 USA
$1 or trade or nice letter

A zine! I never even get to see these anymore! It almost makes me sad when I get one, thumbing through it, remembering the good old days of cut ‘n' paste and how innocent and creative (and sloppy!) all those zines were that I would get on a regular basis, fifteen years ago.

Well, here is one, old school style, cut ‘n' paste text on collaged background, black and white photocopied, hand-cut and stapled, and with a mission of promoting “authentic DIY production and cultural engineering.  Provid[ing] contacts to increase the nodal connection in the underground to the point of infinite reiteration" ... makes me feel good to see it. This one is a review zine of other zines, chapbooks, catalogs, and music, listed alphabetically. The reviews are shorter, but Jason still manages to give his opinions about the zines and not just a list of what's in them or “you might like this if ...". Good, concise descriptions that really give you a good idea of what is being reviewed, and how could I not want to check out “a comic all about fighting Mormons and the epic search for coffee in a world of government-forced decaffeination"?

Jason is clever, lighthearted, and honest, all of which are a must for writing a zine that contains only reviews. He could benefit a little, however, from proofreading his work. Several typos.

•This book was sent to me from the editor because I have corresponded with him.•
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LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE EIGHTEENTH

MUST #5: Deviations | Various Authors

Poetry/prose/artwork
8 pages
4” x 2 3/4” chapbook
MUST
PO Box 282
Painted Post NY 14870

This is a quick little abstract ditty in the vein of editor Aleathia Drehmer's current line, Durable Goods, only far more abstract and freeform, but folded entirely out of one sheet of paper with fairly high-quality photocopying. The mini-zine is comprised of random snippets — connected only in their usage of, or dealings with, the word “deviation” — bits of stories and thoughts pulled from the air as if caught on a wire tap or sneaked from @handles on Twitter feeds looking for deviants or any deviation thereof.

On the negative side, the zine is pretty hard to read, with itty bitty text cast against dark grey backgrounds, blending the different fonts of grey tones into the different backgrounds of similar grey tones.

But on the positive side, there is this:

“the secret.”
by Jason Neese

Then we have What's Her Name. I immediately know I will never commit her name to memory. This is because I see an open copy of The Secret lying on her cubicle desk like the decapitated head of Mr. Rogers. Beside it are three other books. Two on the Analysis of Dreams and one on white magic. What's Her Name flashes me a smile that says:
I'm insane.
I know that I'm insane.
It's ok to transcend reality through my insanity.
Feel free to find me at the PETCO loading up on kitty litter every Sunday evening.
This concerns me.

Yes. Enough said.

•This book was sent to me from the editor/publisher because I have corresponded with her.•
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LETTER OF MARQUE: ARTICLE THE SIXTH

Cokefishing in Alpha Beat Soup: July 2009 | Various Authors

Poetry
2 pages
11” x 17” broadside
Alpha Beat Press
c/o Dave & Ana Christy
806 E Ridge Ave
Sellersville PA 18960
$1 each, $10 year

Cokefishing is a monthly broadside, or in self-description: “a Beat / Post-Beat independent poetry Beatsheet dedicated to the small press and the way it used to be.” It is old school cut ‘n’ paste as submitted, poems, letters, prose, and pictures; and has the feel of the early nineties zines, before the Internet revolutionized (although not everyone will agree on this word) the way the small press worked. The broadside, although sometimes sloppy from the cut ‘n’ paste, feels good to read, makes me feel like the small press is still alive and kicking and not some corporate whore, as its current state sometimes suggests.

Cokefishing is full of names the small press knows: T. Kilgore Splake, R. Emolo, The Poet Spiel, H D Moe, Normal, even my name in this particular issue, if I am to say the small press knows my name. The flaw of cut ‘n’ paste, of course, is that you take the product as it comes, which means typos, misspellings, commas in random places, all preserved on paper from the authors' negligence or poor judgment, but not a flaw of the one laying out the broadside, per se. As an editor, that gets to me every time, and while I understand it's the nature of the beast, I do wish writers would take more care with their work.

The standout poem of this issue is “in these final moments” by The Poet Spiel, a poem reflecting final thoughts of a passenger or multiple passengers aboard a September 11th flight doomed for the fate we know so well by now. Some snippets:

[ ... ] i wish for
thirty violins to lift me up and out
of here [ ... ]

for all of my life i wish
for greater bulk in my shoulders
for our united lunge forward
[ ... ]

right this moment oh how i wish that
i could just get filthy sick
directly into the foul mouths

of these arabic looking bastards [ ... ]

One copy, one buck. Can't beat that.

•This zine was sent from the editor/publisher because I have previously corresponded with him and because I have poetry contained in this issue.•
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