The trees in this zine will kill you before you know it

Arboreal Nightmares Zine
Mer, 6 pgs, [email protected], $2

The grace and beauty of trees is but a clever ruse in Mer’s new zine Arboreal Nightmares. Here, trees are vicious killers and slow, droning disciples of death.

Mer uses the one-sheet folded zine-making method to create six pages of arboreal horror in black and white. Six insidious species, such as the Hippomane mancinella, or the death apple tree, haunt Mer’s pages, threatening such fates as “profound pain, life-threatening swelling in the airway, extreme gastroenteritis and bleeding, and shock” for those foolish enough to consume its fruit. And then there’s the Socratea exorrhiza, or the creeping palm, which over the course of several years can use its root system to frickin’ walk around — note that this species doesn’t seem as benevolent as J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous ents.

Mer doesn’t give us any illustrations to recognize these killer trees in the wild, but the knowledge shared might save your life. If you don’t already have enough crushing anxiety about existence, pick up this fear mongering field guide and add trees to your list of phobias. (Joshua Barton)