Tuesday 25 June 2013

Zines, Zines, Zines

I'm having a bit of a tidy up this week - sorting through lots of old boxes and folders, clearing out old paperwork and other bits and pieces I've accumulated over the years and trying to get the good / important / useful stuff a bit better organised.

In one of the boxes, I found a pile of old zines written back when I was a student. It seems wrong to just recycle them, so I wondered if any of you lovely folks fancied a copy?

UPDATE - all the zines have now been posted! :) 


There are a couple of issues of my personal zine "Bugs and Fishes" (which is where the name of my blog came from!). Bugs and Fishes is lighthearted and whimsical, ranty and opinionated, and obsessed with things like baking, advertising, strangely named foodstuffs, and misheard song-lyrics. The zine ran from 1999-2005 and is packed with my articles about whatever was on my mind when I wrote the issue!

Issue 17 is from 2004 and includes articles about essay-writing, rain, things spotted in Sainsburys, the Olympics, the spider scale of scariness, announcements on trains, the word "chav", grapefruit juice, and warnings found on medication.

Issue 18 is from 2005 and includes articles about colouring-in, cups of tea, new year's resolutions, the Gap, strange signs in the university library, the UK government's slogans for immunisation, graffiti, place names, and TV listings.


There are also some copies of "My Library Project: A Short Investigation into Graffiti Left in University Library Books". This is a zine documenting my obsession with the various scribblings left by other students in my University Library. These vary from the helpful to the annoying to the downright insane and a selection of them are compiled here for your entertainment.

Sample categories include 1) Random Underlining, 3) Dissent and Sarcasm, 5) Cussing, 15) Staggering Stupidity, and 17) Scary Nutters. Beware: this zine does include some swears!

My Library Project is perfect for anyone who has ever been annoyed by this sort of thing, or for people who (like me) spend far too much time in libraries.

5 comments:

Jackie Sotero said...

Oh what a pity I live in Brazil ... I'd love to turn these papers in handmade flowers ...

Chloe grice said...

Ooh, I would be very pleased to have a copy of your Library-nerd-girl-zine please!! :-) Well done for getting on with the sort-out: mine is waaaay overdue and still being put off! xx

Bugs and Fishes said...

Hi Chloe, I tried to send you a message via your G+ profile but didn't hear back from you, sorry! All the zines have now been sent out x

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say thanks very much for the zine you sent me! It was my first ever zine and I really enjoyed reading it. It was so nice to have something in my hand that I can keep. Must have taken you a long time to write it, I loved the variety of subjects too. I think you have given me something else to buy on etsy!

Siobhan

Bugs and Fishes said...

I'm so glad you enjoyed the zine, Siobhan! There are some really fun zines on Etsy :)