Debut novel about the underground in L.A., as well as a search for a road (hence the title) from filmmaker and the zinester, Bill Brown, the genius that brings us Dream Whip. There are human characters in Saugus to the Sea, but they play the barest of supporting roles; the primary focus being the relationship between the narrator and the American urban complex of underground Los Angeles. Less of a novel and more of a collection of short stories or personal essays linked by consistent themes. Additionally it's a madcap mystery about an introverted underground-sprinkler repairman who discovers pieces of a grand conspiracy involving Arbor Day insurrectionists, underground irrigation systems, earthquakes and the flashing light on top of the Capitol Records building.

Its elements don't demand to be taken too literally; as metaphors, they form an elegant network of signification. Water, fault lines, maps, flora and architecture are symbols that present urban life and urban history as an interplay of tensions between order and disorder, deliberateness and chance. This is a mystery story (kind of) but the riddle at hand is the whole, vast life of a city. Brown got his start in travel zines and it shows: His genuine love for and knowledge of his subject saves this book from the cynicism and archness that characterize many other chronicles of alienation in the surreal City of Quartz. Illustrations from Brad Young, the cartoonist who draws and writes the comic strip Stay As You Are. (Willamette Week Review)

Scam was always the zine in which the Miami punk, Iggy, showed us examples of creative resistance and fun in a world run rotten with poverty and war. Whether it was handing out fake starbucks coupons for free coffee, dropping flyers on mall-goer's heads that say "aren't you glad this isn't a bomb?" or having punk shows in laundromats, Iggy has shown us over the years that you can resist capitalism and have fun AND have a sense of humour at the same time. It's almost six years later but this issue is no exception, except he no longer goes by the name Iggy. Instead his real name, Erick, is signed to this cut and paste gem. Now he seems, more than ever, preoccupied with the passage of time and articulating an affirmative vision of the type of society he'd like to live in and fight for. In his piece on reagan's death he writes "...I think my relief came from realizing that by the time reagan had actually died, my teenage rage had quit being the motivating factor in my life,...what keeps me going [now] is the sense of what I wish the world actually looked like." With age comes wisdom and a sense that Erick wants to fight for the things he's for and not just rage at the things he's against. He talks for public art, squats, free breakfast programs, illegal peace demos in san francisco, punk holidays (joey ramone day, in which people gather and do a secret santa exchange of mixtapes), a booklist and various interviews with community activists and artists that round out this hefty issue nicely. Erick asks "How did it happen that we went from non-stop fighting eviction and gentrification to fighting against the new president's vision of perpetual worldwide war, without even a slight break?" While marking the passage of time erick gives us inspiring examples of living defiantly in those times. (Chris Landry)

Scam #6 is a first-person travel essay about stencil art in Argentina! Erick has taken his chapter from the book Realizing the Impossible: Art Against Authority, and turned it into a zine making it more accessible for those not ready to take the leap of book-ownership. We're treated to the story of Buenos Aires, interviews with radical stencil artists, & the political motivations of street art in Argentina. After a serious economic collapse in 2001, as a result of borrowing from the IMF. Most street rioting ensued from all kinds of people and stencil art was used to spread messages.

A zine dedicated to Scrabble and the freaks who love it! It's more than just a bunch of wistful writing about doubles and triples. Scrabble Freaks actually examines all the tiny sub-phenomenons that Scrabble has spawned. Included are: A woman who's started her own tile bank where people can write in for specific tiles, the practice of constructing the "perfect" highest scoring Scrabble board, letter frequency in the English language vs. in the bag of tiles, and a bunch of other equally interesting stuff. Word nerds rejoice!

Megan tells us of some past relationships relating them to mix tapes. Holding on to the spirit of DIY even though she never identified as a punk. We are blessed though because she really knows how to write. This is no hack job. The stories are comical and serious; I was genuinely impressed by this work and feel like this is something almost all of us can relate to.

This is a collection of Moe Bowstern's (Xtra Tuf) writing that has appeared in other people's zines over the last ten years. She's a commercial fisherwoman and adventurer with plenty of stories and life experience to talk about. Beautiful linocut cover and introduction by Ursula K Leguin. This is a reprinted offset version with a new color scheme on the cover!

"Blessed with a wonderful gift for storytelling, Moe waxes poetic about the varied experiences she’s had over the years of fishing for Kodiak salmon. It’s a collection that, despite not being written as a whole, flows seamlessly, perhaps because of the common thread of fishing that runs through most of it, even in the stories where the fishing itself doesn’t take center stage. Highly recommended!" -Sean Stewart

Andy Cornell's new issue is a little bit of a departure from his style but still building upon and critiquing the punk community in a very necessary way. This issue tackles relevant issues through his own stories including skateboarding injuries from not wearing a helmet, student racial and anti-sweatshop activism, working for the Steelworkers Union, a couple weeks on the road with Mobilivre Bookmobile, thoughts on freedom fries and the PATRIOT act, book reviews of radical autobiographies, and my favorite article of all, a crazed account of the west Philadelphia co-op strike of 2002 where disagreements over one staff person's position and reluctance to work with the group lead to shutting down the co-op, macho intimidation, and putting a pallet of food on the trolley tracks! The tales of working in the steel union were equally fascinating as it challenges punk activism up a notch and tells stories of a queer man working in an industry where many of us do not get an inside look. A fascinating document of his last few years.

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Corinne's hilarious comics about her very first apartment. It, like all first apartments was a journey embarked upon with the best of intentions. The dishes would always be clean, and the 7 roommates would always be busy doing creative things and working part time. Of course, it doesn't take long for the passive aggressive notes to appear on the fridge and all the plants to die. An accurate account of young communal life!

Anyone who has a brain in their head knows that the punk scene lacks involvement from women and people of colour. Say hello to Osa and Shotgun Seamstress, a zine by and for Black Punks. The zine features some heart churning, honest musings in a letter to a former friend and an angry letter she wrote to MRR about how fucked up the scene is (Gawd we need more people to tell it like it is!). There's also a review of the movie AFROPUNK written by puck, interviews with two black punks Adee Licious (who wrote the zine Finger on the Trigger) and Brontez (who dances in the band Gravy Train), and mini profiles on Toni Young, The Gories, Sun Ra, Florynce Kennedy. If you consider yourself a punk you need to pick this up...

Shotgun Seamstress is one helluva zine. It's punk and life through the lens of Osa, a queer woman of color living in Portland, Oregon. It's got a little bit of everything, including a piece on Go-go music in D.C, which is all wrapped up into a story called the "Black Punk Zine That Never Happened". Osa helps us to understand why we shouldn't dis RuPaul, treats us to a Northwest scene report, and lists bands past and present that feature people of color. We'll be the first to acknowledge that unfortunately, punk today attracts few people of color proportionally, but zines like Shotgun Seamstress will certainly aid a change.

Simmer down perverts, that's not what this is about! It's about scars and the stories they tell. 16 Baltimore writers and artists got together to create this zine and it's a macabre showing of broken bones and accidental knifings. Highly recommended in that can't help but look at a car accident kind of way.

Damien is a fantastic storyteller whether he's talking about biking around Europe in issue #6 or talking about the stupidity of Portland public transportation in issue #4. This zine is mainly bicycle focused, with maintains intelligent points of view and thought out analysis. It goes from practical information (how to fix your bike) to stories (where he went on his bike) and relates practical information in the process.

Look, i'll be up front with you. I don't skate. I had a cheap board growing up that i thought was so cool, but was too scared to do more than ride down the driveway on. But I do love Sidewalk Bump! A comic zine about the love of skateboarding. In #2 we experience the joy of rediscovering skateboarding, the solitude of late night skating, the juxtaposition of big fancy parks with tiny sidewalk bumps, the adoration of shredded skate shoes, and a little look at the squished bugs and nesting birds that take part in the skating ecosystem. This zine has a bunch of content, and hella-gorgeous covers! Skate, destroy, and then when you're done, check out Sidewalk Bump 2!

Not to be confused with another zine we carried by the same name, this zine is all about tattoos. (the other one was fake skinhead poetry. seriously!) This zine is full of tattoo stories, and many have color photos to go with them! Some tattoo stories are about the meaningful connection people have with their ink, like a teal ribbon for ovarian cancer, or a set of bear tracks to represent strength. Other stories are a bit sillier. I don't want to give it all away, but one involves a looney tune character tattooed on their butt. Sadly, there's no picture of that one.

Hooray for another great issue of Slave to the Needles! Issue 2 of this knit-centric zine contains interviews with knittin' members of Cursive, Mates of State, Bikini Kill, Tegan & Sara, The Sick Lipstick and more! Aimee covers all the techniques you were curious about, like turning that old sweater into a freshly recycled ball of yarn, as well as some related sewing techniques to take your knit projects to the next level. You can learn to make a beer muff (or coozy to some of y'all!), a flowered bonnet, and adorable pixie underpants--to name a few. What more could you ask for in a zine?

Smile Hon is like a tribute band that keeps on turning out albums. But the "revered" in question isn't Tupac, or Tori Amos, or even Frank Zappa. (all from Baltimore) It's Baltimore itself! Every issue is a little bit of history, as well as reflections on the present, written through the lens of the locals. In this issue, William, the editor writes a bit about his bout with lymphoma. There are also accounts of car thefts and antagonistic, screaming neighbors. It's surreal in the best of ways, although you get the feeling that in Baltimore, it probably seems normal.

Follow Ben through his daily comic adventures involving beer, weed, work, shows, tour, love, and parties filled with monsters. His drawing and writing style is honestly sincere and heartfelt and you can imagine and feel his highs and lows. Each day captured is in 3 frames, along with what he was listening to while drawing the frame. Despite his skull t-shirts and rough exterior you can tell he's a big softy and not just cruising for the next kiss or party.

In a sense, despite turning the big 3-0, Ben Snakepit captures the same spirit in the comics he draws to summarise each and every day of nearly the last decade of his life. In his second collection condensing the last three years we see our hero move to and from Canada, tour the world with J Church, hang out with the Sainte Catherines, meet Mike Watt, get caught in the throes of whirlwind romances and we're there to watch helplessly as he gets his heart broken. There's also more pants-shitting, Adderall tripping and days of doing absolutely nothing to keep the old school fans happy. Also keeping with tradition there's a song allocated to each day and this collection comes with a mix cd of some of those songs for the maximum Snakepit life experience.

Voted Best Minicomic - Wizard March 2006! Voted Best local comic – Austin Statesman 2006! ISBN 0-9788665-5-X

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So Longview is the story of a group of punks and their town, Longview, Washington. Kyle buys a $3 tape recorder and spends a couple weeks interviewing punks around town, discovering more about some people in a day than he had in several years of just seeing them around. Transcribed in this zine are their reflections on punk rock and small town life. Plus half of all proceeds go to the Bellingham Books to Prisoners and Community House, a local (for kyle!) homeless shelter.

Sobstory? #8 is all ruminations about life in and amongst tales of travel. Andrew wanders around Europe and wonders if the internet is as scary to him, as television was to previous generations. This zine has just turned 10 years old, and it covers the topics you think it might. Thoughts on aging in the punk subculture and the endlessly liberating sensation of traveling. Features tons of sweet pictures of the streets, shops, and punk shows of Paris and London.

Andrew (Needles & Pens zineshop) reprints a series of letter exchanges with his friend Jack about the general concepts of happiness. They go back and forth about how others seek and do or do not find happiness themselves and how people make it through their lives on hollow promises offered by consumerism or God or related marketing schemes. This zine contains much reflection about the people and places that he was exposed to and the things he learned in the process.

An exceptionally challenging travel zine where we ride along as Suze travels all over the world - campin', hitchin', hoboin', and getting involved with cool projects along the way! One section contains a letter to a friend detailing a trip to Thailand to work with Burmese refugees but the real highlight here is addressing the privilege of traveling - acknowledgment of race, gender, citizenship, and more. There's a thorough examination of how much of an enabler this is and how it keeps her safer - while locals are brutalized & oppressed. It's got a great design and combination of handwriting and typesetting over top photos and paste-ins. An excellent critique and self-examination in a sea of glorification.

Somnambulist #10 is Martha's usual blend of stories, perhaps fiction and non. This issue focusing specifically on Portland Oregon, where she lives. "Nice White Girls" is a true story about a day spent reflecting on gentrification in Portland. Rents going up, and beloved establishments being evicted. It subtly touches on that sentiment of "gentrification sucks" while at the same time realizing that by comparison, the author can't fathom the scope of having been displaced by gentrification decades ago. Also, this issue is almost entirely stories about bars--going to them and the things that happen inside them.

Somnambulist #9 has a few stories by Martha and one by her friend Kyle. She's a strong writer, especially in the story Dr. Jones. The dialog perfectly captures the frustration of going to a doctor and being told that although something is wrong, it's not serious enough to treat. It's the kind of detail only someone with chronic pain would include and it's that attention to detail that brings her stories to life. I'm sorry she didn't get accepted into grad school. It's their loss.

FINALLY REPRINTED CORRECTLY!!! Nate Powell's (Soophie Nun Squad, Boomfancy, Tiny Giants, It Disappears, Walkie Talkie, Conditions, Wonderful Broken Thing, Schwa Sound, Playground Messiah) intricate black & white art focuses on the terrors and pleasures of growing up. Poignantly plumbing the existential angst of youth, he invokes great coming-of-age novels with only a few dozen words. This book collects his self published zines and comics dating back to 1992, his first two graphic novels (Tiny Giants and It Disappears), and new work. These stories build vignette by vignette into a rich tableau of lofty dreams and Deep South disappointment, car crashes and love letters, first kisses and four-tracks. Powell's work is a reminder of the persistence of wonder against all odds. ISBN 978-1-934620-79-3

Read a great interview with Nate in Comics Reporter!

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