Behind the Zines #11 by Billy McCall
Each issue of Behind the Zines is such a joy to read and warms my heart so much. Zine lifers, independent publishers, and artists of all stripes gather together to tell stories that never otherwise get told. (Like, in this issue, Todd Taylor of Razorcake's journey into a warehouse postal audit with rejected snake meat and live chickens.)
This issue's highlight: an essay from our own Gina Sarti about the ten-year anniversary of her ridiculously popular zine Shit's Fucked: A Positivity Guide. It's the rare story of making tons of lovely connections by way of a small zine that randomly went viral on Reddit a decade ago and never stopped.
Close-second highlight: Jonathan Valelly's deep-dive into the Broken Pencil Zine Awards—a massive, wonderful operation (that old-school zinesters love to hate on).
There's also: zine tattoos, first-time zinesters, postal bliss, experimental hip-hop collective zines, the pandemic zine fest scene, the most unwanted zine, anarchist zine printing, retro zine reviews, and an interview with Jolie Ruin (of The Escapist Artist).
32 pages, half-letter size.