Hard Times In The Maritimes: True and Disconcerting Tales of Eerie and Unnatural Happenings in Saint John, N.B.
Compilation zine, JW and PMP, 38 pages, [email protected]
Basically everything is hit or miss, but compilations of people’s experiences with the supernatural have to miss pretty hard to be uninteresting. This collection, promising true and disconcerting tales of eerie, strange & unnatural happenings in Saint John, New Brunswick, is right up my dark alley. First off, the presentation is perfect: cut-and-paste, shitty sketches and better drawings, cell phone photos of reinforced hospital doors and other creepy things (bonus points: most of these are hilariously undecipherable thanks to photocopying) – all of these are a must, and these zinesters deliver. As for content, it’s all over the map: a comic, poetry, testimonials, an interview with a local shapeshifter, a report back from a fright weekend involving many attempts to get spooked, and so on. While not every contribution was satisfying, the overall quality kept me interested til the end. And even more bonus points go to zine writers who print their itemized seance kit featuring a “‘crappy flashlight” (mom insisted)”. That alone will keep me going for weeks. Sadly Hard Times will be publishing its last issue sometime in 2016. So if spooky shit is your shit, send you love to these folks and get your money’s worth while you still can! (Stephane Doucet)