Queer Zines

by Philip Aarons (Editor), A.A. Bronson (Editor)

Queer Zines, the catalogue, collects the variegated practices of zine makers past and present, from North America and Europe, and lists them alphabetically, starting with Toronto's 88 Chins and ending with the Dean Sameshima zine Young Men at Play. In a riotous assemblage of more than 200 pages, we find comprehensive bibliographies and sinful synopses for more than 120 zines by Alex Gartenfeld, excerpted illustrations and writings by zine makers, reprints of important articles in and about queer zines, a directory of important zine archives, and a list of zine outlets around the world. It also includes a 1980 interview with Boyd McDonald by Vince Aletti, Bimbox's pop-up genitalia (alas, not popping up here), Adam Block's early writings on zines from the Advocate, a "Where are They Now?" section that charts the careers of various queer zine pioneers, and excerpted interviews with GB Jones, Vaginal Davis, and Bruce LaBruce.

Genres: Queer, Nonfiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book/catalogue that accompanied a 2008 Queer Zine Exhibit in NYC made me wistfully nostalgic for the period in the early 90's when I was making zines regularly and a participant in an exciting, important cultural/underground movement. The book isn't perfect, and a lot inevitably got left out, but it's still pretty great. Now times have changed and the "Queer Zine Explosion" (in the words of Holy Titclamps' Larry-Bob) has long since subsided, but the mark it made on the underground culture, the larger culture, and on people like me, is indelible.

From the introduction by AA Bronson: "Queer zines provide a model for life: this century, release your strident inner voice. Doing so is essential to creating culture, and creating culture makes us human."

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

gay, gay and more gay.