Pair-a-Zines:
Two zines that have come to my attention recently that I’d like to bring to yours are Mystery Date and Murder Can Be Fun (Pop-up warning: Both are hosted on the ad-happy Tripod).
Dubbed “One Gal’s Guide to Fun,” Mystery Date catalogs writer Lynn Peril’s obsession with American artifacts of feminity. Think classic tampon ads, fashion guides for flappers and etiquette books penned by Pat Boone. I can’t say I’m immediately drawn to the subject but Peril regards it with a historian’s eye and a grad student’s appreciation for irony–call it brain cotton candy. MCBF is a classic in zine publishing circles. Creator John Marr, another smart writer/amateur historian has spent 18 issues chronicling murder and bloodshed in all its grotesquely amusing varieties. I picked up the last issue about mayhem and death at sporting events and am having a super time reading it on the pot.
Since both of these publishers live in San Francisco, I will be stalking them sometime soon.