I Want My Web TV!
How low-budget online programs are challenging the network fare
Escaping Sonja Ahlers
Canada's collage queen hides out in the Yukon and finds her selves
Cut and Paste Fish Sticks
Brooke Ford follows Rob Kovitz's frozen odyssey
Excerpts
from Liz Worth, Jason Kieffer, Martha Grover
Fiction
by Nelson Eshleman, Jordan Abel, Amy Dupcak, Patrick Horner
59 reviews
Lots more. See it all here.
Our Extraordinary Monsters
As a rule, readers should be very wary of poems with titles that offer two nouns linked with the word "of " -- for instance, "The Topography of Love" or "The Ontology of Solitude." This device is usually a warning that what follows will range from blandly familiar to comically overwrought. In Our Extraordinary Monsters, Vanessa Moeller commits this titular transgression not once but 10 times, with each of the 10 poems that make up the first section the book. It comes as a welcome surprise that t... Read more.
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We need Interns
You'll all want to know that the very first issue of The Incongruous Quarterly is online NOW. Helmed by frequent Broken Pencil contributor Emma Healey, IQ is a new web magazine devoted to publishing the best of the unpublishable in fiction, poetry, and more. Check it out at incongruousquarterly.com. You can join the group on Facebook, and follow @incongruousq on Twitter. Read more.
July 31, 2010
Why is Brooklyn so awesome? Part one.
Recently, in the BP office, we've noticed an interesting trend. Most of the objects that come through and make us go "wow" lately seem to be from Brooklyn. Hence why this is part one. I have a feeling there will be more to come from us on the subject of Brooklyn. But for now, I'd like to tell you about the latest thing this borough has done to make us do a double take: a mini zine fair in a candy store. Pete's Mini Zine Fest is a free zine fair held in Pete's Candy Store (709 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg). The small event - which takes place from 3-7pm Saturday, July 31 - will feature 20 exhibitors, bookmaking workshops by Esther K Smith, and performances from local bands (and candy, I'm sure). Attendees will find zines such as Hoax Zine, Absent-Cause and I Love Bad Movies. For a full list of participants, check the Facebook event page. Read more.
July 30, 2010
Porcupine's New Wordless Imprint
A recent, noticeable trend in the Canadian small press landscape is for publishers to veer off from publishing the written word altogether, or at least, nearly. Conundrum Press publishes more graphic novels and comics now than ever before, with visual books outnumbering their fiction publications by at least three to one. This spring BookThug launched a virtually wordless graphic book by Caurosel’s Mark Laliberte called BrickBrickBrick,while Vancouver’s Anvil Press has added some comic strip titles in recent seasons. Add new upstart Invisible Publishing’s dabble into illustrated texts with Stacey May Fowles 2008 Fear of Fighting, and Toronto’s Tightrope Books’ Dealers, a portrait book of Toronto gallery owners, as well as a graphic poetry anthology Boredom Fighters, and you get a pretty decent sample of how publishers are trying out new ways of branding their outfits through visual arts. In keeping with the aforementioned moves into the visual publishi... Read more.
July 29, 2010
In celebration of International Zine Month, the Toronto Zine Library is participating in the 24 hour zine challenge and you can join them! WHEN: Wednesday July 28th, 6pm until close WHERE: The Toronto Zine Library -- 2nd floor of the Tranzac club -- 292 Brunswick St. just south of Bloor. Close to Spadina subway station COST: free! BRING: yourself, your friends, snacks, creativity, zine making supplies, ideas The 24-Hour Zine Challenge is a yearly event where one attempts to make a 24 page zine from start to finish in 24 hours. Everything from initial idea right through to photocopying/collating/stapling your zine takes place in one day. More information, a list of this year's participants and sign up information can be found at the 24 hour zine thing site. Please note that you don't have to register and/or send in your zine when it's finished - you're encouraged to participate to whatever degree you're most comfortable with, or ju... Read more.
July 27, 2010
They say that you only get what you put in. You give a little, get a little? You work hard, results abound? Buy a book, sell a book? Perhaps not literally, but at least for Tin House Books, this idiom strikes a particular balance in a publishing industry currently caught up in an uneven proportion of want and production. Tin House doesn’t accept unsolicited manuscripts for consideration of publication – like many other presses, the steady stream of submissions coupled with a small staff makes for a lengthy read and response process. But right now, if your unpublished manuscript is accompanied by a book receipt, your submission will be read. “In the spirit of discovering new talent,” reads their new policy, “as well as supporting established authors and the bookstores who support them, Tin House Books will accept unsolicited manuscripts dated between August 1 and November 30, 2010, as long as each submission is accompanied by a receipt for a book from a... Read more.
July 19, 2010
Fresh stuff from BP 47 unlocked
Broken Pencil #47 is now available in its entirety for your web-based reading pleasure. Newly unlocked stories include David Silverberg's feature on Web TV, an excerpt from Liz Worth's history of Toronto punk, a sharpener on Black Bile Press, Sarah Steinberg's latest column and a profile of Harley R Pageot, plus 15 zine reviews and 11 book reviews. Enjoy. Read more.
July 18, 2010
'Dilettantes and Heartless Manipulators' zine reaches issue #70.
'Dilettantes and Heartless Manipulators' is a free, weekly, paper zine coming out of Melbourne, Australia. The zine is now up to issue number seventy. That's seventy weeks of solid zine action and it feels like with issue #70 the zine is just starting to hit its stride. The new issue deals with the zinemaker's experiences surrounding inviting his parents over to his new house for the first time and the tension created by his choice of clothing - a skirt. For me the zine reads as honest and revealing and a real attempt to try to understand the world. The weekly format makes this a large and serious project, all created with just one piece of A4 paper. That so much can be revealed on just one side of a piece of paper is a testament to the strength and power of the zine format. I look forward to another seventy weeks. 'Dilettantes and Heartless Manipulators' is available every week in Melbourne at Sticky Institute (www.sticky... Read more.
July 14, 2010
'DNA': Australia's longest running fanzine turns thirty years old.
'DNA', Australia's longest running fanzine, has celebrated an incredible thirty years of zine publishing with two new issues in the past six months. The zine claims it's core business as "attempting to document the activity of underground and alternative bands in Adelaide and South Australia from the mid 1970's to the present day". The zine has been published without a break since 1979, releaseing issues #109 and #110 in the past six months. Even more incredible is that all back issues are still available, you just have to order them from the zine. Holding the new issue of 'DNA' in your hand is like holding a punk rock flux capacitor. And I salute them. Read more.
July 14, 2010
'Nearly Healthy' - a zine that has changed my life.
I'm always a little unsure what to do when I find a new zine that I really love, especially when the zine is a per-zine and the "per" is pretty damn personal. Is it enough to just curl up under the blankets and devour the zine alone? Should I contact the zinemaker and tell them what their zine means to me? Or should I shout from the rooftops that something amazing has just been created? Well today I am going to shout from the rooftops. I just read a zine calld 'Nearly Healthy' and it has honestly changed my life. The zine was made by Emma D in Sydney, Australia, the same Emma D who runs the zine distro Take Care. For me this zine is a masterpiece. It is difficult, heartbreaking, beautiful, wonderful, personal, revealing, at times hopeful and at times bleak. This is a really substantial, serious and important work of art. The zine deals with life and death and I want to publicly thank the zinemaker here for sharing her thoughts. I think this zine has made... Read more.
July 14, 2010
The Scream's Moustache Gala 2010: Choose Your Own Stache!
Saturday, July 10, 2010 - 7:00pm Hugh’s Room 2261 Dundas Street West- This Saturday, come celebrate the midpoint of the Scream Literary Festival with some well-groomed literature lovers and show off your facial coiffe for a chance to win some goodies! Prizes available for Best Moustache, Best Beard, Scariest Facial Hair and Best Original Creation. Enjoy the electro dance pop sounds of Green Go, local rock stars Henri Faberge and the Adorables, and groove to the jazz/r&b sounds of Maylee Todd. Make your own stache or sport one of our strap-ons upon arrival! Not every stache style suits everyone. Here’s a style guide to help you out while creating your own! WHAT TYPE OF MOUSTACHE ARE YOU? (Courtesy of the American Mustache Institute) English - narrow, beginning at the middle of the upper lip; the whiskers are very long and pulled to the side, slightly curled; the ends are pointed slightly upward; areas past the corner of the mouth usually shaved. Art... Read more.
July 10, 2010