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Are you hip to the zine scene? Whether your answer is "absolutely!" "sort of," or "what's a zine?" everyone can learn from and be inspired by the funky, funny, fertile ideas set forth in Zine Scene. Written by Francesca Lia Block, author of the Weetzie Bat books (collected in Dangerous Angels), and Hillary Carlip, author of Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out, Zine Scene is both a tribute and a how... More

Are you hip to the zine scene? Whether your answer is "absolutely!" "sort of," or "what's a zine?" everyone can learn from and be inspired by the funky, funny, fertile ideas set forth in Zine Scene. Written by Francesca Lia Block, author of the Weetzie Bat books (collected in Dangerous Angels), and Hillary Carlip, author of Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out, Zine Scene is both a tribute and a how-to guide to zines. Zines (as in magazines), are a righteous, radical form of creative self-expression. There are no hard-and-fast standards for zines, but they may contain one or more of the following: newsletters, journals, comic strips, artwork, photography, collage, poetry, and/or scrapbooks. The sky's the limit when it comes to production and length--from three pages of glossy paper to 30 pages of grainy photocopies. Block and Carlip teach by example, providing a plethora of reprints and excerpts from the tremendously diverse sea of zines. The range of zine creators, or "zinesters," is evident in the strong personalities that leap off the pages: the 21-year-old author of "Velvet Grass," who teaches her readers how to make arts and crafts (like duct tape shoes); "Flaming Jewboy," a 26-year-old drag queen whose manifesto includes "Thou Shalt Wear Heels"; the 17-year-old creator of "Private Catholic," who vents her feelings about private school; and 16-year-old Seth, master of several zines in which he discusses whatever he feels like--including his obsession with chicken fingers.

In addition to cheering on writing and art as a means of speaking out, Zine Scene also offers nitty-gritty details about copyrights, design, and distribution. But the emphatic, lasting message of this punky paean to self-publishing--and indeed the battle cry of zinesters themselves--is to be yourself, whatever that may be, with self-confidence, sass, and style. --Brangien Davis

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