What Wred's Reading: Some Zines

Actually, it's more accurate to say that I am rereading this.  After one too many moves, I have begun shedding my library, but because I am fond of the books that I hung onto for so many years, I am rereading most of them.  This one, Some Zines, dates from 1994 or so (it was likely published a couple of years before I got hold of it), which is a full quarter-century behind us now.  That doesn't seem so long ago, but all old people say things like that.  In any case, this is a fun and rare book (only 500 or so exist is my guess).  It was the accompaniment to some exhibit on zines that Tom Trusky put on in 1992.  I came across it when I wrote my master's thesis on zines.  Trusky was an interesting dude.  He must have been a cool English professor to have for the students in Idaho.  Apparently, his zine exhibition caused some controversy, but Trusky forged on and even had a second exhibition a few years later.  I have the companion for that exhibit as well, appropriately titled Some Zines 2.  I'll be reading that coming up as well.  Both books are similar from what I remember, in that the covers of the zines are printed along with Trusky's notes and a statement from the zine publisher.  He included quite a few classics such as Angry Thoreauan, Cometbus, and Murder Can Be Fun, but also many zines that I likely would have not heard about aside from Trusky's work, especially the ones from Idaho.  The book is spiral bound, but it's been preserved well.  The pages feel about as supple as they seemed to when I first got it.  I am looking forward to rereading this.  It will be a nice flashback to the golden age of zines.

Need something to read yourself?  Read my latest novel!