2010

01 March

blog

Books A reading wishlist for rainy day by Kate

There are quite a few book reviews that have caught my eye this week. Feminist Review have recently covered Alison Piepmeier’s Girl Zines- Making Media, Doing Feminism, which has been on my wishlist since it came out late last year. [On a side note, Feminist Review is currently seeking donations to keep afloat. Be generous if you can].

Writing for Comics is an anthology of Alan Moore’s writing about .. well.. writing that was originally printed in a zine back in 1985 and has now been published by Avatar Press with a brand new essay.

And according to the Guardian , the Legend of Koizumi is the ultimate contemporary Japanese novel. Or, in the very least, a package tour into Japan’s psyche.

2009

02 December

blog

Books New Last Hours books and other last orders for Xmas by Kate

The folks at Last Hours have two new books out; an anthology of Morgenmuffel zine called Diary of a Miscreant and Excessive Force, a comic anthology about police brutality. And you only have a few days left if you want to make absolute sure your Last Hours merchandise arrives in time for xmas (including all their other zines and comics, like Hey Monkey Riot and Last Hours).

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15 August

reviews

Books Book review: Publish You (Alternative Press) by Kate

Publish You features contributions from a broad range of small press types drawn from the recent Alternative Press Festival in London. These include illustrators, writers, poets and comic creators. And, as evidenced at Alternative Press events, the self-published comic scene in the UK is going strong. Kebab shop anecdotes seem to be the only other recurring theme of a varied collection. The book was compiled by Jimi Gherkin, Peter Lally, Gareth Brookes and Saban Kâzim.

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13 April

blog

Books Amazon goes anti-gay (now updated) by Nick

Update: maybe not anti-gay, but certainly anti-smart.

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25 January

blog

Books Censorship in Anime: Special series on the Anime News Network by Kate

Chicks on Anime have published a really interesting 2-part series on censorship in Anime, a conversation between Bamboo (the managing editor for ANN), Casey (a writer for ANN) and Sara (an animator). They cover a lot of different angles, including the growing influence of Borders and the like on what is and isn’t published, self-censorship and the implications of a recent obscenity trial in the US.

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2008

09 February

blog

Books A Firefly Novel by Nick

Well, a fan-fic novel, at any rate — but with one crucial distinction. It was written by Steven Brust, writer of the “Vlad Taltos” novels, and perhaps one of America’s finest and most politically sophisticated fantasy novelists.

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16 January

blog

Books I09 reports on new Culture novel by Nick

I09 proves it can actually occasionally cover science fiction literature… (more)

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2007

11 August

blog

Books Fables writer interviewed by Nick

Also in this week’s edition of the AV Club, an interview with Bill Willingham, the writer/creator of Fables, which is perhaps one of the most interesting and consistently good non-superhero comics around these days. If you haven’t come across it, here’s a precis of the first trade paperback:

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14 January

blog

Books Blog Recap: Big Trouble in Small Press Publishing by Kate

The small press has featured quite a bit in the blogosphere over the last few weeks. Soft Skull press, one of the most frequent publishers of radical feminist texts, have been in the news as a result of the financial difficulties faced by their distributor, AMS. Other independent publishers, such as Cleis Press and Dark Horse Comics are also affected and it’s not looking good for indie magazines either, as the Independent Press Association (IPA) has gone under:

• Independent Publishers Get Hurt by AMS Chapter 11 Filing (mediabistro.com)
• Today in AMS: PGW publisher options, legal issues (mediabistro.com)
• Now’s the time to support your struggling small presses… (Other Mag)
• Crap days in publishing (lcrw: Not a journal)
• How Corporate Bankruptcy Affects Independent Publishers and Authors (Viviane’s Sex Carnival)

Elsewhere, bloggers are debating the dependence of independent feminist publishing on anthologies:

• Over at Bookslut , Eryn Loeb challenges the heavy reliance of feminist publishers on the anthology.
• Seal Press editor, Brooke Warner, has posted a reply at Feministing .

2006

02 October

reviews

Books George and Martha by Kate

Finley’s latest book is a satire of current American politics told as an illicit affair between Martha Stewert and George W. Bush and mimicking Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf. As in Finley’s earlier work, Living It Up, Adventures in Hyperdomesticity, Martha Stewert serves as the ultimate symbol of conservative femininity, acting out the mothering fantasies to Dubya’s damanaged little boy psyche.

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