Xerography Debt is a Leeking Inc., publication. It is scheduled to appear 3 times a year. Issues are $2.
Send cash, zines, and correspondence to:
Xerography Debt
Davida Gypsy Breier
PO Box 963
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Email: leekinginc@hotmail.com
8January 2000
In the last 4 1/2 years I have published 27 issues and two minis and I am still making plenty of mistakes. I naively thought I could mail Xerography Debt #1 without using an envelope. It would save me a few cents, a piece of a tree, and I could thank the postal carrier for delivering my mail. Well, either there are some postal carriers who took my sincere attempt at postal praise and self-mockery the wrong way or zines just aren't safe without protective manilla sheaths. It is safe mailing for me from now on.
If this is your first issue of Xerography Debt this should clarify things: Xerography Debt is, if all is going as intended, a catalyst for zine writers and readers to find one another and continue the exchange of ideas and images. It is a review zine for zines. It is supposed to make you go to the bank and get a fresh stack of $1 bills and send away for some of the best independently published writers and artists you'll ever find.
Xerography Debt is a bit different from other review zines. My vision is to create a hybrid of a personal zine and review zine. All of the reviewers also publish their own zines. You should be able to get a glimpse of the reviewer as well as the reviewee. I did not send the reviewers zines, they chose the zines they reviewed. There are some zines reviewed multiple times, as well as a few unplanned cases of mutual love amongst the reviewers. It seemed a bit incestuous, but what can you do with these people?
Xerography Debt has its own freestyle approach. It is all about communication, so each reviewer has used the format or style most comfortable to him or her. Also, each reviewer "owns" the zine in a completely communal, non-possessive sense. We all love zines. We have an obsession. We want to share our obsession with you.
We are individual artists and writers coming together to collaborate and help keep zineland flourishing. To further promote this effort, Tom Hendricks of Musea has agreed to host Xerography Debt on this website. #1 went online just a few weeks after paper copies went into the mail. It will be available for free online or paper copies can be ordered through me.
One of the reasons I am doing this is that I feel I owe my present life to zines. While that is starting to sound dangerously hokey, let me explain. Until I started Slow Leek I didn't realize that I truly enjoyed writing. The only type of writing I felt comfortable with was research-based, which was "safe." As long as the facts were correct and clear, it was hard to look foolish. Once I let go of this fear venturing into more personal writing, everything changed. I not only started to enjoy writing, I started becoming a better writer. The feedback I received from readers and the interactions I began having with other writers and artists made an immense difference in my life. That brings me to the present day. I am now working as a writer (among other things) and I have found my passion. I often wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't discovered zines. I doubt it would be as rich. Xerography Debt is part of my attempt to give back some of what I have been given. One of the other reasons I am doing this is because it completely sucks to wait all day to drive to your po box and find it empty! It is all about mail.
Something I have grudgingly come to realize is that there is no way I can review everything that is sent to me. I will do the best I can for you. So will the other reviewers. Do your part by ordering a few zines from the many reviewed here and if you self-publish please consider including a few reviews in your zine.
If you are interested in reviewing for Xerography Debt, please contact me by mail or e-mail for some rather vague, but seemingly helpful guidelines. All you need to do is write five reviews that will excite people to send money, stamps, or a trade. I hope to have #3 done around April or May, so the deadline for reviewers is April 1st, 2000.
Corrections from the last issue. New Addresses:
Roadside
Sarah Oleksyk
PO Box 4789
Portland, ME 04112
Throwrug
Karlos
PO Box 3155
Bellingham, WA 98227
Barrie Lynn's email address is buttwig1@aol.com
Rachael Buffington's website is: www.mindspring.com/~rachaelbuff/teaworthy.html
The Illustrious Reviewers:
Androo Robinson (note: artwork has been reduced and should be seen in print)
Fred Argoff
Betty Maple
Donny Smith
Bobby Tran Dale (note: artwork has been reduced and should be seen in print)
Cali Ruchala
Jason Adams
Scout Finnegan
Davida Gypsy Breier
Andy's Page
Hi! I'm Androo Robinson. You may know me for my utter lack of fashion sense, or my dismayingly lackluster housekeeping habits, but it's more likely that you know me as the Ped Xing comics guy. Actually, it=s far more likely that you don=t know me at all. Credentials having thus been established, lets talk Motown!
Flashback to, I dunno, some soon after 1994. Id begun my assault on th= minicomics scene, and was casting about for kindred spirits. If found >em in a Motor City anthology called Five O=Clock Shadow. Four of these minicomics artists remain at the top of my list and I'm gonna tell you about >em.
Matt Feazell is th' zen master of the minicomic. His drawing and storytelling style is simple and direct; deceptively so. He makes it look as easy as it ought to be. YOU TRY IT! In fact, if you do pick up a sharpie and start a minicomic, you=re playing right into this cartoon guru master's plan. Resistance is futile.
Fred Argoff
Hello! I thought I'd introduce myself before plunging into my zine reviews. That way, at least you'd know where all this is coming from. My name is Fred Argoff, and I'm a zinester. I first got involved in this craziness with Roller Sports Report in 1990 (and I put out an issue once a month, every month, every month, until 1995.) I also produced 22 issues of the map-obsessed TOPOzine. These days I have two zines running concurrently: Brooklyn! Is devoted to my hometown, and I've finally gotten up off my butt and revived Watch the Closing Doors after eight years of urging from subway fans.
When I asked Davida for guidelines, she said there weren't any! [ed. I've since created some, but Fred was just too damned eager to get started. That's ok, he followed them without knowing he was.] So I spent a week or two trying to come up with a clever theme for my reviews, couldn't, and decided what the hey -- I'll just write about zines that have caught my fancy. If you're interested in my zines -- or want to give me hell about my reviews -- you can reach me at 1204 Avenue U (#1290), Brooklyn, NY 11229. Otherwise, let's see what's been filling my mailbox lately...
You know, it's funny. Despite the way everyone's behaving lately, the Age of the Internet hasn't quite taken over the world yet. Some people still take pleasure in communicating through real, honest letters. For this elite group, the place to turn is THE LETTER EXCHANGE. Each issue contains listings from people all over the world, grouped according to their interests. You answer listings by writing that person's "Lex Number" care of the zine -- the idea is to preserve the person's anonymity and weed out the wackos. It's their option to write back, you see. I will tell you that I've already made more than one real, true friend through this zine. You can get a sample copy for $9.00 -- not cheap, but once you get involved, it'll seem worth every penny. From Steve Sikora, Box 2930, Santa Rosa, CA 95405.
Can you get enough zine reviews? No, you can't! The last place you might expect to turn might be Finland, but that's where MUUNA TAKEENA comes from. It's absolutely loaded down with zines, CDs, tapes, videos, and who-knows-what-else, reviewed in English, thankfully. And the reviewers aren't "yessers." If they don't like something, you'll now it. Timo Palonen is responsible for the zine; if you're a zinester, he'd love to see your latest in trade. If not, why, stamps or chocolate will be fine! Hepokuja 6-b-26, 01200 Vantaa, Finland.
Hey, you want weird? Then you're not going to do much better than THE WEIRD NEWS. Editor Don Busky says everything's for true, though when I questioned him about some stuff, he elected to maintain a dignified silence. Each issue also highlights a Great Moment in Stupidity. I'd like to ramble on about the worldwide panorama of strangeness in the zine, but I think I have an allergy to multisyllabic words! And the best part is, the zine is free. That's right: there's no free lunch, but you can have all the weird news there is just for the asking. Don's at 7393 Rugby St., Philadelphia, PA 19138.
You like to laugh, right? Of course you do; you're not some kind of freak. So let's put aside the concept of political correctness, and appreciate something funny. There's this comic zine out there, see, called MOB GUY COMICS. Each issue has the recurring characters of Mob Lieutenant, Hitman, and Og (barbarian turned mob enforcer). If you don't mind my getting into the spirit of the thing, I think there's an offer here that you can't refuse: avoid the possibility of something happening to you (if you know what I mean) and send $2 to Clay Holman for the latest issue. P.O. Box 3671, La Crosse, WI 54602.
Do you remember stuff like Koogle (the peanut butter spread) ... Sir Grapefellow cereal...or the original rendering of Lucky the Leprechaun from Lucky Charms cereal (he was a devil-may-care character, as opposed to the bland, easygoing Lucky you see in ads today). Well, if you remember this sort of stuff, you're gonna think you fell into a gold mine with SNACKBAR CONFIDENTIAL. This zine is devoted to junk food! It isn't just a fun zine -- it's the fun zine. Honestly, I have no idea where Lance Laurie gets the stuff he puts in the zine, but I'm glad he's got it laying around. $3 should land you a copy and hey, pass me a Scootie Pie! P.O. Box 895, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.
Betty Maple
[ed - Betty Maple does Yard Art, a new zine about...well, yard art. It is a nifty idea and available for $2. Betty Maple 12827 Salt Creek Rd. Millfield, OH 45761 Cg3@eurekanet.com]
Thrift Score Issue #14
c/o Al Hoff
PO Box 90282
Pittsburgh, PA 15224 USA
$1.00 cash/check made out to Al Hoff
It is with a heavy heart that I review this final issue of one of the best zines to come down the pike. Why bother, if it's the final issue? 'Cause Al Hoff still has a boat load of back issues she needs to get rid of. They're all worth getting, now at bargain prices.
This ender is a little lean, but still mean. Al's an entertaining writer and can find the humor in the sometimes grubby world of thrifting. Her short bit on refusing to be scared off the record bins in a Chicago thrift by some gentleman, who is, shall we say, polishing his helmet nearby had me simultaneously laughing and grossed out. Her intro pages explain her reasons for ceasing publication, providing me with some food for thought on the whole subject of zines. I don't agree with all her reasons, but at least she had the guts to come right out and end it, instead of just fading away with no explanation.
This zine was my intro to the zine world, and I don't think I could have found a better one. Pick up Thrift Score #14 for a buck and you'll get the score on getting all the back issues for as little as .50 each.
The Delineator #1
Art Penn Studios
c/o Patrick Dowers
515 E. Denny Way #304
Seattle WA 9812
price $3.50
Copyright free clip art is always difficult to find when you're putting together a zine. There's lots of books out there, especially by Dover, but that can run into some serious bucks, bucks that need to go into your printing costs. This fat zine of images just may save your day. Patrick has done a compilation of hundreds of images to meet your illustration needs. Reproduction quality is pretty good and should repro well. Images aren't just thrown together, but categorized inside the front cover for easy reference. There's no wasted space or wide margins, just tons of art. This zine could end up being a valuable resource for the home publisher and I look forward to issue #2.
The Flamingo Conspiracy #1 & #2
c/o Phutz H. Flamingo, Esq.
PO Box 380849
Cambridge, MA 02238
Price $3.00
Something about this zine leaves me cold, and I can't quite figure out why. It has lotsa good clip art, it's well laid out and it's jam packed with articles and clippings, all stuff I normally like. Perhaps it's the narrow range of the sexual content. Lord knows, I love a good fuck book as much as the next person, but Phutz's kinks are so specific I have a hard time whipping up any interest. I jumped right into the article "The Gender-Specific Clothing Conspiracy" in issue #2 because even though I'm a garden variety basic vanilla hetero type female I generally wear mostly men's clothing. As Phutz so rightly points out, it's actually sized by measurement in inches, not by some bizarre made up system that bears no relationship to actual body proportions. This could have been a more general interest piece, but she's compelled to steer it all back toward her personal fetishes. I don't care why she has her particular sexual focus and a little humor would have lighted these zines up a lot. I guess that's what having your own zine is about, but you also can't expect a world wide audience for your personal preoccupations. 
Infiltration #11
PO Box 66069
Town Centre PO
Pickering ON L1V 6P7 Canada
price $ 1.00
Whilst cruising around town, you spot a gigantic building project, a multistory office building or a sports complex with a deep underground foundation. Come on, you know you're dying of curiosity, but are held back by a perfectly rational fear of death or dismemberment. Well, Ninjalious ain't no chicken, he'll sneak right in and explore for you. Infiltration goes where I would fear to tread and brings back a detailed report of the intricacies of monster heavy equipment. This issue goes into the digging of a new Toronto subway line, letters from equally intrepid readers and tips on dressing for an exploration. Get your thrills vicariously and safely with Infiltration.
The Hungover Gourmet issues #1-4
PO Box 4
Doylestown, PA 18901-0042
price $2.00
Editors Emil Nitrate and Dan Taylor have put together a homey cooking, cocktail and travel zine that's about what people really eat and where they really go to eat it. Sure, we'd all like to have pheasant (or mushrooms) under glass, but the reality is more likely a pot of chili or a trip through the fast food drive-through. Issue #1 debates the thorny topic of grills, and a trip to Niagara Falls. Issue #2 tackles and scores with a great crock pot BBQ recipe, and examines the horror of army cooking. Issue #3 goes for chili in depth and some Polish cooking nostalgia. Issue #4 covers Pittsburgh's regular-folk attractions and a profound article about potato chips written by this humble reviewer. All four issues have cooking and equipment tips, recipe web site addresses and zine reviews in a pleasant to the eye layout. The Hungover Gourmet is a practical guide to real life cooking and more.
Donny Smith
The past few years I've been drifting away from zinedom. I never order new zines anymore. I read what's sent to me and have a few regular trades.
My job exhausts me; my non-zine projects take up my free time; and overall I just don't feel as alienated as I used to (at least not alienated in a way that doing a zine can help). But a few reliable publications continue to inspire. (So for now I'm still putting out Dwan)
Donny Smith
Box 411
Swarthmore PA 19081 USA
dsmith3@swarthmore.edu
http://www.geocities.com/WestHollywood/Village/6982/dwan.html
Lilliput Review
I know how my heart sinks when I open an envelope and see that I've received another poetry zine. But not Lilliput. Sometimes I tear through it in fifteen minutes, sometimes I make the little thing last a full week.
The poems are all short, usually three or four lines, usually Zen-ish. I think the short poem forces poets to cut the crap. In three lines they're not going to write "the Great American Poem" or start a new movement in "l-a-n-g-u-a-g-e"; they have to concentrate on what's at hand.
Short poems are usually about a passing feeling or a passing scene. Less often they're about a passing thought, "the philosophy of the moment." Maybe the poem has been there for years, but suddenly consciousness opens like a curtain being pulled back. I keep going back to Lilliput 82 to re-read "Il gran rifiuto" by Alex Gottesman (to quote in full):
I had the 'No' in me
a hundred years before I was born.
Before I was, it was
just a 'No' floating in the abyss
of unspoken words and forgotten memories,
waiting for my flesh to summon it
as my lips would part
while it rides upon a breath out
from between my teeth
Of course, for every poem in Lilliput I call good, there are nine I call bad. But out of those ten poems, you will call a different one good. And good enough to make the reading worthwhile.
Current issue: 106 (September 1999)
($1 - 3 1/2" x 4 1/4" - 15 pp)
Don Wentworth
282 Main St
Pittsburgh PA 15201 USA
http://donw714.tripod.com/lillieindex.html
Extranjera a la intemperie: hojas de poesía de Susana Cattaneo
Sometimes an image passes by that's strange and strong enough to jostle your mind. Here's something translated from the latest Extranjera, the last six lines of "Hotel del desierto" ("Desert Hotel") by Santiago Bao:
Beauty was retreating
in the face of plastic flowers
and in the air was floating
smell of primitive sadness,
presence of abandonment,
like a giant invisible bat.
And here's a stanza, translated from "Las gemelas rusas" ("The Russian Twins") by Lola Arias:
-To kill the father.
The twin kisses her sister on the mouth.
Immodest snow falls on that impossible kiss.
That country, that father.
Every new Extranjera points me toward places I need to be going in my own writing. (The main problem for Anglo readers will be that it's all in Spanish.) The "Russian Twins" again:
They cross the desert on chargers, to the land of the ogre.
"No doubt, no fear, no trembling."
Current issue: año 2, numero 6 (Noviembre 1999)
(no price (2 International Reply Coupons?) - 7" x 8 1/2" - 20 pp)
Susana Cattaneo
Casilla de Correo 206
Suc. 12 B
(1412) Buenos Aires ARGENTINA
susanacattaneo@ciudad.com.ar
Holy Titclamps
Larry-bob's one of the smartest faggots in zine-land. Every new HT brings up all kinds of questions for me. I've put together entire issues of my zines in response to editorials in HT (I won't tell you which ones).
Lately, Larry-bob has been delving into the past, publishing lots of biography and obituary and inviting past contributors to contribute again. (As Magenta said, "How sentimental!")
current issue: no. 17 (10th anniversary issue; June 1999)
($3 cash; $4 overseas; free to prisoners - 5 1/2 " x 8 1/2" - 60 pp)
Larry-bob
PO Box 590488
San Francisco CA 94159-0488 USA
larrybob@io.com
http://www.holytitclamps.com
Boys Who Wear Glasses
First of all, this is my boyfriend's zine. So I'm not looking at it with a neutral eye. Nonetheless, and despite the fact that we've been together eight years, I always find out something new about him. And it's something useful to me and would be useful even if I didn't know him.
Which isn't to say that this is just another introspective personal zine. The focus is female pop and jazz singers-Dusty Springfield, Kay Starr, Annie Lennox, Anita O'Day, and company. And since music is one of the hardest things to write about (I think food is harder), the good music zines are rare. The good ones, like BWWG, bring you to a love of the music.
Current issue: Five (Fragments and Marginalia, Part I; 1999)
($2.50 cash - 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" - 57 pp)
Mark Hain
Box 411
Swarthmore PA 19081 USA
mhain@pafa.org
Batteries Not Included
Here you'll find articles about porn trade shows and porn award ceremonies and sexology conferences, the ongoing memoirs of a dominatrix (the wonderful Lisa B. Falour), reviews by a dyke adult bookstore employee, interviews with porn actresses, analysis of current events (like the only worthwhile commentary on the whole Lewinsky Clinton affair), "Fags on Film", reviews of people like photographer Jan Saudek and illustrator Edward Gorey, "The Sexual Family", lots of detailed descriptions of the making of X-rated videos, lots of leering over the body parts of certain women, and lots of pleas for better porn of all kinds.
I'm not sure I can explain it, but BNI has reached a spiritual plane not usually attained in the "world of small-press publications", all the while concentrating single mindedly on the world of pornography.
Current issue: Volume VI #11 (November 1999 (I can't keep up; it's monthly)
($3 or checks made out to Richard Freeman; $4 foreign - 8 1/2" x 11" - 12 pp)
Richard Freeman
130 W Limestone St
Yellow Springs OH 45387 USA
BNI@aol.com
Cali Ruchala
[Ed - Cali is responsible for Aspirins & Kalashnikovs: The Scaredy Cat Guide to Living Dangerously, Degenerate, and Delusions of Grandeur. Look for reviews on pages 22 and 29.]
Zines that Make Me Depressed that I'm So...
Jaded:
SemiBold #6
1573 N Milwaukee Ave.,PMB #403
Chicago, IL 60622
semibold@aol.com
($2.00)
SemiBold has become my religion. No, seriously. Just when the grind of poverty and disgust begin to form a pattern, like a little white dove perched on a windowpane in a bad movie, a copy of SemiBold comes into my mailbox and immediately makes me believe again.
These words might sound cruel, considering the misfortunes that editor Kathy Moseley goes through between issues. The first SemiBold contained a story about waking up with a mysterious ailment that caused double-vision. Issue two raked over the coals of a doomed relationship. In issue six, the dreaded double-vision has returned. I cannot begin to imagine the horror of walking to the grocery store and seeing four sets of headlights screaming at you ahead of two mirroring irrate drivers. Actually, I'm not sure if the "cure" -- or at least attempts at diagnosis -- was any less terrifying: a spinal tap, hospital pokes and proddings, and the coffin-like confinement of a CAT scan. On the night before: "I couldn't stop thinking about being in that tiny tube, feeling it close in around me, suffocating me -- how would I ever make it?"
Yet if SemiBold were just a catalog of Kathy's misery, I doubt it'd be all that provo-cative. The double-vision story ends, and we find a wonderful account of a trip to New York. Frankly, if I'd just been through all that (once, much less twice), doing anything but rocking back and forth in a corner while singing apocalyptic Biblical hymns would be too much. It's a kind of innocence, or even a joy for life, in spite of life.