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ONLY FAGS AND SPINSTERS READ BOOKS THESE DAYS (AND THIS IS BAD BECAUSE...?)
ed. Paul Gerretsen, Justin Smith & Tony West, Bribe #1 ([email protected], advertising (613) 549-5331)
Rising from the ashes of Jaywalker Mark I (the introductory editorial speaks of some of the reasons why that ceased to be), this magazine from my town continues in its irreverent way to explore both philosophy/politics and pop culture, perhaps leaning a bit more this time towards the former pairing.
There are poems, film critiques, essays on punk, and cartoons, along with local club listings and 'lucky' horoscopes. An amusing little booklet-sized publication, with something to say (some of the more sexist/objectifying elements seem to have faded from the mix, which is not always totally good, as that was part of its deviant charm - to see something quite that crass tossed in to provoke thought...but, on the other hand, I'm more inclined to read closely without that distraction...so it's a tossup... :) ).
ed. P. Edwin Letcher, Garage and Beat #9 ($4 to 2754 Prewett St., Los Angeles, CA, 90031)
And the garage rockin' continues...
This time, our editor snags an interview with Emmit Rhodes, a one-man band phenomenon of the Seventies who is, according to his website, perhaps on the verge of releasing something new for the first time in thirty years, as the main super-duper attraction.
However, the magazine is, as always, jampacked with editorials, interviews, reviews, and general madness of a garage/beat variety.
Check the website - see the fabulous deal on how to get all the issues for a reasonable price (except #7, which you can't get - good thing a local store still carried it up to #8, so I have 'em all...) - and, most importantly, go to the toppermost of the poppermost with this fab rag!
ed. Emily Pohl-Weary & Paola Poletto, Kiss Machine #6 ($4 to P.O. Box 108, Station P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2S8, Canada)
As the 'Girls & Guns' issue, this is bound to be contentious. It contains a little bit of everything, from confessions of teenaged armed robbery to interviews with members of the Israeli army to advice on what gun best suits your body type to some fiction about gun culture in the United States.
As I said, certainly not always reassuring, but a wide array of viewpoints are dealt with, and it is well packaged and designed (complete with a trading card, which I have somehow sadly misplaced :( - I think I may have left it on the floor at my boyfriend's house in Texas - I'm sure there's some cheap irony there, given it is a city where you can't drink but can carry concealed weapons - but it may be far too low priced to bother - the satire may shatter before you get it home...).
ed. Milo, Mutate #7 (free, 2935 N. Fratney, Milwaukee, WI, 53212, USA)
In which our editor cops to a gender identity (not that it especially matters, a point with which I agree with Milo - I mean, YES, it MATTERS in a world based around gender polarities, but I do not think it especially invalidates any arguments...). It appears Milo is a bioboi. There - happy?
In this issue, we learn about tearoom cruising (washroom sex), developing queer identity from 80s pop culture, radical cheerleading, shopping for porn with librarians, and so much more, more, more!
And it concludes with an ode to Morrissey.
Has Milo been looking over my shoulder? *Checks* No, seemingly not - nevertheless, I could relate to WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much of this first-hand. :)
ed. Jon Pressick, Trade Queer Things Summer 2003 Volume 4
Issue 2 ($4 to #302-135 Bleecker Street, Toronto, ON, M4X 1X2)
Another faboo issue of this stylish production, with interviews/profiles this time on Skinjobs, Vancouver's newest queercoretype band (featuring Kim Kinakin, former frontfella of the late, lamented Sparkmarker), as well as: a portrait of Kyle Scanlon, an adorable and hardworking trans activist; a piece on Brother Love Canal, a new queer musical group; lots of queer femme and trans representation (which there is not quite enough of anywhere else); many book reviews; and, oh, buy it and see (better yet, subscribe now that there's a cheap subscription blitz - see the website...).
Oh, and watch for the autumn issue - I have a piece in it (oh, will my plugging know no end? Hmmm - that doesn't sound right...).
Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins, Dance Of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital (Akashic Books, PO Box 1456, New York, NY, 10009, $27.95 CAN)
In which our editors document the rise, fall, mutation and permutations of the punk scene in Washington, DC over the course of roughly twenty years.
A lot of bands have passed through that town, including some one does not actually associate with there directly (Bikini Kill, Bad Brains, Lois) - there seems to have been a virtual underground (no pun intended) tunnel between Washington District and State. Be it with pictures, testimonials, opinions or reviews/clippings, a detailed if, of course, biased and limited (by editors' choices) portrait of a scene emerges.
Now, personally, I would have wanted a bit more on women, especially Fire Party, but that is an argument for myself or someone else to produce that book. For what this is, it is a vital historical document, and also entertaining and informative.
PJ Gray & Stanley Hunter, Bear Cookin (Harrington Park Press/Haworth Press, 10 Alice Street, Binghamton, NY, 13904-1580, 2003, $12.95 US soft/$24.95 US hard)
Do you like a little fur with your food?
Hmmm...a bad hook line. Nevertheless, this book is full of recipes for the fat, furry and friendly fellas known as Bears. This is not a book for vegetarians or many diabetics, however, of which there are more than a few in the woof-based community. Should you be watching your waistline (or that of the twink to whom you are attracted), you might want to reflect whether you are the audience.
However, this slim (eek) but well-padded (grin) volume is packed with recipes, from Beef Stroganoff (*drool*) to Cub Salad, Fur-Ocious Pot Roast and (Squeal Like A) Piggy Mac (yes, Bear puns abound *grrrr*).
The serving suggestions for nearly everything, including the Banana Milk Shake (though, to its credit, the book says 'perhaps not'), include Beer, which will be dubious to we teetotallers or possible twelve-steppers...but no-one says you HAVE to follow the serving suggestions. Surely people like we Bears, at whose entrance buffet owners tremble, should know better than to blindly obey such restrictions. :)
So, you get recipes, bear drawings, humour AND the secret to Beef Stroganoff (hey, for the latter I would sacrifice my virtue to Richard Karns...oh, heck, I'd have done that anyway:) ).
This collection of personal essays, ranging from European travelogues to appreciation of Dark Shadows (the Sixties vampire soap opera) to meditations on the tortured closetry of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, do not respect borders between intellect and lust, aesthetics and drooling, or gentleman and Bear/leatherdaddy. As an internationalist, I cannot help but approve.
As the author is a professor of Appalachian literature at Virginia Tech, I would expect erudition, irony and wit, and am not disappointed. His woof-based and dead-cow-rooted senses of identity also mean he can wax rhapsodic on the Fur, hot bondage scenarios (including some linked to saintly icons - oh, the blasphemy!) and less-than-platonic fantasies about former students (though he is a gentleman and a professional, so only the FANTASIES were non-platonic, not the actions...).
I did find the cover model too cutesy for my taste, but the author may not have had a call in that, or has different sensibilities, which is more than fine (as, if I may be so bold, is he, based on the author photograph...). It takes all kinds to make a woof, er, world, and, as a former English major myself, I should certainly know not to judge a book by its cover. Touching - sexy - funny - deep - insert the laudatory sentence fragment of your choice, and it may well apply.
ed. Michael Rowe, Queer Fear II (Arsenal Pulp Press, 103-1014 Homer Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2W9, CANADA, $17.95 US/$23.95 CAN, 2002)
If there is a market for bear cookbooks, why not queer horror fiction? There was clearly enough of one for this to be in Volume II, and there have been at least two or three other anthologies of a similar, er, bent.
There is, in fact, one lesbian story, but it is written by Michael Thomas Ford, noted humour essayist ("Night Of The Werepuss"), and it's a bit silly, if fun.
There is also a story by Scott Treleaven, "Bugcrush", that combines the best of Lovecraft and Poe with what can best be described as adolescent queer male fantasy (oh, self-promotion again...watch for the next Trade Queer Things, which will be the autumn issue - I
interview the author in it :) ).
Disturbing and often deeply revealing of the darkness in our, um, camp.
RD Roy, The Colours Found In Bruises ($5 CAN, Panegyric Press, 36 Second Avenue, Trenton, Ontario, K8V 5M6, CANADA)
An odd little collection, ranging from science fiction ("Space Licorice") to observations ("Spitting Girl") in a Virginia Woolf mode to gritty, Margaret Gibsonesque struggling survivor tales ("McBaby"), with a stop at a mordantly funny satire on censorship and 'dumbing down'/'deadening' ("Words of Wrongdoing") that one would have hoped would never have been necessary/revived after the doublespeak of Vietnam press conferences, but is alive and well in the world of Bush.
As an introductory chapbook, it is a good survey of the author's interests and approaches. I hope to see more, perhaps with a focus in one area next time...but it's a nice sampler... :)