I had been poking at zines on archive.org when my brain went to soup at work, and kind of living in that gen x world, back in the early 90s, back when you were trying to steal photocopying from wherever you could (or doing it via a printer, whatever). Working in technology, someone making a tangible little book about *whatever* is just so cool. It's the exact opposite of what I do. Sure, there's blogs out there, love blogs, there should be more blogs, but this is physical. I dunno, it warms my heart. I deep dove microcosm's website, and the Spiral House in Portland (hey pdx, I miss you), bought some zines, and I've been enjoying them since. Zines on witchcraft, on the punk rock scene in 1990s Minot, ND, on burnout, the murals on the plywood boards covering up downtown Portland.
I'm kind of in love.
The deep diving was tmo's fault, specifically their post about making per-zines, which I had heard of like two days before. The idea is really interesting, and I've already started working on one. tmo talks about everything I do above; it's so personal, so much more tangible than a blog. I really like it. So I'm working on getting one out, just because I can. Even checked out Stolen Sharpie Revolution from the library (love you, the library).
On top of that, some Blaseball fans are organizing a zine jam on itch, which was incredible timing. I've already started plotting out a solo zine, mostly just about my own experiences, about creating lore, fan characters, even building the backstory of a player. I'm also going to work on one with my writing buddies about our AU. And I might jump into a few more in the discord they set up. I have to say, watching all of these creative people has energized me. Didn't think this is where I'd be a month ago.
Zines, won't we?
tmo's post on zines (https)
and the Gem link (gemini)
Microcosm Publishing
Spiral House Publishing
Blaseball Zine Jam on Itch.io
5 Aug 2022